Project Contract No. 036851 ESONET European Seas Observatory
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Project contract no. 036851 ESONET European Seas Observatory Network Instrument: Network of Excellence (NoE) Thematic Priority: 1.1.6.3 – Climate Change and Ecosystems Sub Priority: III – Global Change and Ecosystems AOEM D9 - Final report on design of the acoustic network for acoustic tomography, underwater navigation and passive listening in the Fram Strait. Due date of deliverable: 30 November 2010 Actual submission date: 10 January 2011 Start date of project: July 2009 Duration: 17 months Organisation name of lead contractor for this deliverable: NERSC Lead authors for this deliverable: Hanne Sagen, and Stein Sandven, Revision [draft 1 date 10 January ] Revison [final date 23 February 2011] Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006) Dissemination Level PU Public PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services) x 2 TITLE: Final report on design of the acoustic REPORT IDENTIFICATION network for acoustic tomography, ESONET – AOEM – D9 underwater navigation and passive listening in the Fram Strait. CLIENT : CONTRACT SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME EESSOONNEETT CCOONNTTTRRAACCCTTT GRANT AGREEMENT NO.: (036851) • AOEM Demo mission • AWAKE project • ACOBAR project CLIENT REFERENCE AVAILABILITY FFRRAAMMEEEWWOORRKK PPRROOGGRRAAMM 6 6 EESSOONNEETT Open report within the ESONET consortium. FFRRAAMMEEEWWOORRKK PPRROOGGRRAAMM 7 7 AACCOOBBAARR Polish-Norwegian Research Fund (AWAKE) Contributing investigators AUTHORISATION Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway: Hanne Sagen, Stein Sandven Bergen, 23 February 2010 Alfred Wegners Institute, Germany: Eberhard Fahrbach, Agnieszka Beszczynska-Möller, Olaf Klatt Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), USA: Peter Stein Sandven F. Worcester Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA / Teledyne Webb Research Corporation, USA: Andrey Morozov Acknowledgment to the University of Bergen, the Norwegian Coast guard, and in particular to the crews onboard RV Håkon Mosby and KV Svalbard. AOEM D9 – Final report February 24, 2011 2 CONTENT Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................2 Introduction. ...........................................................................................................................................................3 Acoustic characteristics in the Arctic environment.................................................................................................3 Acoustic characteristics in the Fram Strait marginal ice Zone.................................................................................9 Acoustic navigation and tracking of Lagrangian systems .....................................................................................13 Accuracy of positioning and timing.......................................................................................................................21 Acoustic communication.......................................................................................................................................22 Passive acoustics ...................................................................................................................................................23 Acoustic technology.! ............................................................................................................................................24 Summary and Conclusion......................................................................................................................................26 References ............................................................................................................................................................28 Executive summary Acoustic infrastructure and measurements can contribute to fill the significant gap in ocean observations in the Arctic. An acoustic network can measure the acoustic travel times to derive heat content and mean circulation on a regional or basin scale in minutes or hours respectively, provide an underwater “GPS” system for navigation and timing for under-ice Lagrangian systems, and provide information about ice dynamics, earthquakes, and marine mammals through passive listening. Furthermore, the need for a low frequency acoustic navigation system for gliders and floats in the Arctic (Lee and Gobat, 2006) coincide to a large extent with the requirements for the acoustic thermometry system (Sagen et al. 2010, Dushaw et al. 2010). It is therefore cost effective to develop and implement a multi purpose system in the Arctic, which take care of both navigation and provide thermometry data. Furthermore, a cabled acoustic network in the Arctic would provide basin wide measurements in real time and year round. Providing continuous data availability in fixed critical locations the cabled network can observe episodic events such as eddies or the passage/influx of warm or cool water masses when they happen to permit researchers to deploy/redeploy/direct other assets such gliders, unmanned systems, ice-tethered or moored platforms to monitor, track, analyze and study the event. Technologically there is no problem to integrate acoustic sources and receivers into cabled networks. One of the acoustic sources in the Fram Strait acoustic network is recommended to install in the planned cabled network in the Fram Strait. Passive acoustic systems are easy to implement in cabled network, and we recommend including a cluster of minimum three vertical hydrophone arrays for advanced detection and localization and tracking of marine mammals in connection with a cabled network in the Fram Strait. To proceed to an operational acoustic network in the interior Arctic co-ordinated actions on the international level has to be taken across disciplines. The international ANCHOR (Acoustic Navigation and Communication for High-Latitude Ocean) group of experts was established to coordinate the interoperable acoustic infrastructure the high Arctic (Lee and Gobat, 2006). Implementation of cabled systems in the Arctic can only be developed through international collaboration. The Svalbard Integrated Observing System can offer opportunities to develop a system in the European sector of the Arctic. European efforts to establish an acoustic network infra structure covering the Arctic have to be coordinated with Russian, Canadian and US initiatives and interests. This report forms the baseline of preparation of a publication in referee journals. AOEM D9 – Final report February 24, 2011 3 Introduction. The Marginal Ice Zones and the interior Arctic Ocean under the ice is severely under sampled due to lack of regular observing systems. A future sustainable Arctic Ocean observing system will need to combine data from several sensors on ice tethered platforms or underwater moorings with satellite data and models using data assimilation (Lee et al, 2010; Sagen et al., 2010, Dushaw et al., 2010). During the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009, new technologies for ocean observations such as acoustic thermometry/tomography, oceanographic sensors on ice tethered buoys, floats and gliders operating under the ice. Except for ice-tethered buoys, these technologies need an acoustic network to become operational in the Arctic. The relevant capabilities of an acoustic network is to • Measure the acoustic travel times, to derive heat content and mean circulation on a regional or basin scale in minutes or hours respectively, • Provide an underwater “GPS” system for navigation and timing for under-ice Lagrangian systems, • Provide information about ice dynamics, earthquakes, and marine mammals through passive listening. The objective of AOEM - WP 5 – Acoustic network – is to “define and design a cabled acoustic network for acoustic tomography, acoustic navigation of gliders and floats and for passive listening of human activities and marine mammals in the Fram Strait”. This report describes important features and characteristics of acoustic propagation in the Arctic influencing the design and capability of a future acoustic network, acoustic tomography in the Arctic, acoustic navigation in the Arctic, passive acoustic systems, technological state of the art, and future perspective of a cabled acoustic observatory covering the entire Arctic Ocean is defined. Acoustic characteristics in the Arctic environment Achievements in acoustic monitoring, communication and navigation depend on fundamental knowledge how acoustic signals, in particular low and mid frequency sound, propagate and behave in the Arctic environment. The ice cover and the oceanographic conditions in Arctic waters have strong impact on the propagation of acoustic signals. First of all, sound propagates slower in cold Arctic water (1460 m/s) than in warmer temperate water (1500 m/s). Second, a strong surface duct, with cold and fresh water, underneath the Arctic ice cover, characterizes the interior Arctic Ocean. This has a strong impact on how the acoustic signal propagates through the water masses. If the acoustic source is located inside the duct a large portion of the acoustic energy above the cut-off frequency is trapped inside the duct, see for example in figure 1. Acoustic energy at frequency below cut-off will not sense the surface duct. Furthermore,