The SYNARGOS ambient noise measurement buoy

A micropower, automatic, data collection buoy system has been developed for obtaining synoptic enviornmental data in the open ocean and in ice covered seas for periods exceeding one year. Synoptic data samples are stored in a 24 hour memory under microprocessor control and relayed by burst transmissions to one of two NOAA polar orbiting satellites utilizing the ARGOS random access data collection system on board. Buoy positions are determined to within a circular probability error (50%) of better than 150 meters by doppler measurements made on the transmitted signal. Six SYNoptic ARGOS or SYNARGOS ambient noise measurement buoys were sucessfuly installed in the eastern Arctic Ocean during the spring of 1981. The data are providing valuable longterm statistical sampling of the highly variant underice noise field for this unstudied region of the Arctic. This project is part of the Arctic Research for Enviornmental Acoustics (AREA) program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (Code 425 ARCTIC).