An Investigation of the Collective Oscillations of a Bubble Cloud

It is well known that ocean ambient noise levels in the frequency range from a few hundred hertz to several tens of kilohertz are well correlated with wind speed. A physical mechanism that could account for some of this sound generation is the production of bubble clouds by breaking waves. A simple laboratory study of the sound generated by a column of bubbles is reported here. From measurements of the various characteristics of this column, good evidence is obtained that the bubbles within the column are vibrating in a collective mode of oscillation. Based upon an assumption of collective oscillations, analytical calculations of the predicted frequency of vibration of this column as well as the dependence of this frequency on such parameters as bubble population and column geometry agree closely with the measured values. These results give evidence that the bubble plumes generated by breaking waves can be a strong source of relatively low frequency (< 1 kHz) ambient noise.