MAD Sea

Specialty Devices, Inc., working with the Gas Hydrate Research Consortium directed by the Mississippi Minerals Resource Institute, has developed and installed a Severe Storm Monitoring System. The MAD SEA Storm Monitor was installed in approximately 1,000 meters of water depth at Mississippi Canyon 118 in the Gulf of Mexico on June 12, 2006. The Storm Monitor is to be recovered in November of 2006 at the conclusion of the hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. This web-page discusses the MAD SEA Storm Monitor and its capabilities. The Storm Monitor can also be used for marine mammal research and for monitoring man made acoustic signatures.

Goal

Develop a long term acoustic storm monitoring system and have it in place for the 2006 hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico.

Theory

Monitoring of storm induced sound requires estimation of the frequency domain of interest, the dynamic range of amplitudes versus frequency and an understanding of natural and man made background noise which may interfere. Ideally, we would be able to measure calm sea natural back ground levels, be unaffected by man made interference and still be capable of recording sound levels resulting from a maximum storm event directly over the monitor location. Our frequency spectrum of interest is dictated by the sound generation spectrum from storms, by the acoustic transmission characteristics of the sea and by the frequency spectrum that provides the best indicator of storm intensity.