Can oceanic flows be heard? Abyssal melodies

Fluid flows generate an acoustic noise field. In principle, oceanic flows on varying time and length scales produce a sound field and its detectability is considered here. A fragile lower bound analysis is made of the acoustic signature, using the Lighthill theory, of a simple train of boundary vortices generated by baroclinic tidal flows. Subject to numerous assumptions, the accompanying sound should be detectable within the hum band of seismo-acoustic pressure fields, and more generally, across the entire oceanic spectrum-likely through wave number analyses of spatially coherent acoustic array data. (C) 2022 Author(s).

Automated summary

Fluid flows generate a sound field, and this study investigates the detectability of this field. An analysis of the acoustic signature of boundary vortices generated by tidal flows reveals that the accompanying sound can be detected in the hum band of seismo-acoustic pressure fields.