Shallow ambient noise variability due to distant shipping noise and tide

Study and characterization of distant shipping component of ambient noise in shallow water aid in design of passive surveillance algorithms and effective signature analysis of marine vessels. This letter presents the work carried out on real ambient noise recording in very shallow water condition close to a commercial port with heavy shipping activity to study and characterize the distant shipping noise component for variations due to tide. Ambient noise recording was carried out by a bottom mounted sensor at 30 m depth at regular interval for a period of over one month and the spectrum in the band 10–1.6 kHz was characterized for its diurnal spectral variation. The study concluded that the distant shipping noise component due to heavy small vessel activity in the nearby port resulted in up to 35 dB variation in the shallow water ambient noise in coastal areas that may have serious implication on passive surveillance algorithms performance in the vicinity if adequately not addressed. This is the first such effort in ambient noise measurement and characterization in the extremely shallow water channel condition prevalent in the tropical waters off the west coast of India.