How will climate change affect the underwater sound environment? Modelling the potential effects of climate change on the oceanic speed of sound

The purpose of this study is to create a year-by-year prediction model for surface-level oceanic speed of sound in different future climate scenarios and discuss how these results may be relevant for current and future work in underwater acoustics. It is already understood that sound propagation and speed in the oceans will be affected by future changes of oceanic pressure, temperature, salinity, and acidity. Certain trends of future sound speed have been analyzed in precedent studies; however, there are some information gaps and the availability of future oceanic sound speed models for use by the acoustical industry is lacking. This study intends to fill in some of these gaps and initiate an interdisciplinary discussion between both research and industry professionals in the field of acoustics.