Techniques for modeling ocean soundscapes: Detailed description for wind contributions

Abstract

Wind over the ocean creates breaking waves that generate air-filled bubbles, which radiate underwater sound. This wind-generated sound is a significant component of the ocean soundscape, and models are essential for understanding and predicting its impact. Models for predicting sound pressure level (SPL) from wind have been studied for many years. However, the terminology and definitions behind modeling approaches have not been unified, and ambiguity has led to differences in predicted SPL. The 2022 Ambient Sound Modeling Workshop was organized to compare ambient sound modeling approaches from different researchers. The main goal of the workshop was to quantify differences in predicted SPL and related quantities for different approaches and, to the extent possible, determine the cause of the differences for a specific, well-defined scenario. Results revealed a variation of approximately 6 dB across different research groups, with differences reaching up to 10 dB in some cases compared to the benchmark results described in this paper. These variations stemmed from differing methodologies and underlying assumptions. In this paper, step-by-step guidance is given for modeling SPL due to wind. The workshop test case will be described, and results from the modeling approaches described here will be compared with those from the workshop participants.