Stephen K. Mitchell
Appl. Res. Labs., University of Texas, Austin, TX 78713
In many important shallow water areas, merchant shipping, fishing, or seismic exploration activities are a prominent feature. In such regions, the ambient noise levels in the frequency range from approximately 10 Hz to 1 kHz are generally dominated by sounds related to these activities. Ambient noise levels are generally much higher than those typical of deep ocean regions; omnidirectional and beam levels show considerable temporal variability as noise sources move and change their activities. Noise data from measurements in shallow water regions will be summarized. In addition, the interaction between source characteristics, shipping densities and traffic patterns, propagation characteristics, and ambient noise statistics will be discussed. [This work is supported by the Office of Naval Research, Code 234, under block RL3B.]