Ocean acidification and its impact on ocean noise: Phenomenology and analysis

Abstract

Ocean acidification has been observed since the beginning of the industrial era and is expected to further reduce ocean pH in the future. A significant increase in ocean noise has been suggested based upon the percentage change in acoustic absorption coefficient at low frequencies. Presented here is an analysis using transmission loss models of all relevant loss mechanisms for three environments experiencing a significant near-surface pH reduction of 8.1–7.4. Results show no observable change in the shallow water and surface duct environments, and a statistically insignificant change of less than 0.5 dB for all frequencies in the deep water environment.