The role of bubbles in ocean ambient sound: Measurement techniques and modeling approaches from whitecaps to melting glacier ice

Bubbles play an important role in generating ocean ambient sound under wind-driven seas and in polar regions near icebergs, glaciers, and ice sheets. The acoustic signals produced by bubbles in these environments have been used to estimate wind speed and the mass of calving tidewater glaciers, for example, and may hold significant potential as a remote monitoring tool for receding tidewater glaciers. Combining measurement and modeling approaches offers a robust framework for interpreting ocean ambient sound from bubbles, though each comes with its own challenges. Some of these challenges will be discussed along with advances in our understanding of the fluid dynamics underlying bubble sound generation.