Ice-ocean acoustic energy transfer:: ambient noise in the ice-edge region

The ambient noise produced by large areas of ice floes, such as the Odden and the marginal ice zone, was recorded and analysed. A model based on the collision, compression and shearing of floes driven by ocean swell was constructed. This model allows the level and variance of the ambient noise to be predicted provided the conditions of the ice and the sea state are known. The frequency spectrum of the ambient noise in the range 100 Hz to 100 kHz is explained in terms of acoustic propagation and absorption by sea water. The probability distribution of ambient noise intensity, obtained from a statistical analysis of collision frequencies, is a form of K distribution and agrees with observations.