Dependence of airborne surf noise on wave height

Abstract

Airborne noise from breaking waves is an important component of the ambient noise in coastal areas. The surf noise may mask unwanted noise arising from sources such as offshore wind turbines or naval gunfire exercises. In order to determine whether the received sound pressure level from naval gunfire is above the ambient sound level at these sites, the ambient sound level in coastal areas as a function of sea state and weather conditions needs to be understood. They proposed several mechanisms for sound generation, including impact noise, single oscillating bubbles, collective bubble oscillation, and bursting bubbles. They also proposed a semi-empirical sound generation-propagation model. A self-contained Vaisala WXT 520 weather station was mounted on a pole at 10 in height to record environmental data at the site. A Teledyne RDI Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was deployed 780 in SE of the measurement site, bottom-mounted in 11 in of water, in order to measure directional wave spectra.