Underwater sound levels in the Canadian Arctic, 2014–2019

Halliday, William D.; Barclay, David R.; Barkley, Amanda N.; Cook, Emmanuelle; Dawson, Jackie; Hilliard, R. Casey; Hussey, Nigel E.; Jones, Joshua M.; Juanes, Francis; Marcoux, Marianne; Niemi, Andrea; Nudds, Shannon; Pine, Matthew K.; Richards, Clark; Scharffenberg, Kevin; Westdal, Kristin H.; Insley, Stephen J.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112437

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…• Han et al (2021) Since the publication of review by PAME (2019), six peer-reviewed studies that I am aware of have come out filling some of these geographic gaps (Figure 1). For example, our research group just completed an analysis of underwater sound levels in the Canadian Arctic, filling a large gap in the eastern Canadian Arctic (Halliday, Barclay, et al, 2021). Similarly, this latest paper by Han et al (2021) in Geophysical Research Letters fills an important geographic gap along the Russian coastline, and is the first study of underwater sound levels that I am aware of in this under-studied region of the Arctic.…”

Section: Plain Language Summarymentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Solid, land-fast sea ice creates an incredibly quiet environment with very low sound levels (Insley et al, 2017;PAME, 2019), yet when sea ice is more dynamic, sea ice can create variable sound levels that can dominate the soundscape (Halliday, Barclay, et al, 2021;Kinda et al, 2015;PAME, 2019). Sea ice also limits anthropogenic activity, and therefore underwater noise from those activities (Halliday, Pine, et al, 2021;PAME, 2019). However, the Arctic environment is shifting rapidly due to climate change, which is causing a general reduction in sea ice (Meredith et al, 2019;Stroeve et al, 2007), and is also allowing for increased anthropogenic activity (Pizzolato et al, 2016;Smith & Stephenson, 2013).…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Map showing all studies peer‐reviewed, published studies on underwater sound levels in the Arctic from PAME (2019), and additional studies since the PAME review, including Halliday, Barclay, et al. (2021), Halliday, Pine, et al. (2020), Halliday, Scharffenberg, et al.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Underwater Sound Levels in the Arctic: Filling Knowledge Gaps

Halliday

2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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 Han et al. (2021) published a study in Geophysical Research Letters on underwater sound levels in the East Siberian Sea  I place this study in the context of broader effort to establish baselines of underwater sound levels in the Arctic  I call on researchers to continue filling geographic gaps in studies of underwater sound levels, particularly in the Russian Arctic Accepted ArticleThis article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

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Section: Plain Language Summarymentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Underwater Sound Levels in the Arctic: Filling Knowledge Gaps

Halliday

2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…For the two main frequency bands associated with long range shipping signals (centered at 63 and 125 Hz 1/3 octave bands) by the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive 73 , we observed that February was the month with highest noise levels. Though guidelines have been established to aim for levels below 100 dB 74 , increases in sound levels at those two bands may not necessarily be connected to vessel traffic 75 , 76 and demand further scrutiny. Nevertheless, all median spectrum levels remained below this threshold.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal patterns in the soundscape of a Norwegian gateway to the Arctic

Aniceto

Ferguson²,

Pedersen

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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As an Arctic gateway, the Norwegian Sea sustains a rich diversity of seasonal and resident species of soniferous animals, vulnerable to the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities. We show the occurrence of seasonal patterns of acoustic signals in a small canyon off Northern Norway, and investigate cetacean vocal behavior, human-made noise, and climatic contributions to underwater sound between January and May 2018. Mostly median sound levels ranged between 68.3 and 96.31 dB re 1 μPa2 across 1/3 octave bands (13 Hz–16 kHz), with peaks in February and March. Frequencies under 2 kHz were dominated by sounds from baleen whales with highest rates of occurrence during winter and early spring. During late-spring non-biological sounds were predominant at higher frequencies that were linked mainly to ship traffic. Seismic pulses were also recorded during spring. We observed a significant effect of wind speed and ship sailing time on received sound levels across multiple distance ranges. Our results provide a new assessment of high-latitude continental soundscapes in the East Atlantic Ocean, useful for management strategies in areas where anthropogenic pressure is increasing. Based on the current status of the local soundscape, we propose considerations for acoustic monitoring to be included in future management plans.

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“…Importantly, the spatiotemporal overlap of belugas and narwhals also overlaps with the vessel corridor for the Mary River Iron Ore Mine on Baffin Island and the Northwest Passage (Fig. 1 a) where potentially large increases in underwater noise are expected in the coming decades 3 , 52 – 54 . Arctic odontocetes are especially at risk to northward human expansion as hydrocarbon development and commercial shipping pose substantial threats via ship strikes, hearing damage, vessel disturbance, and increased underwater noise 3 , 50 , 51 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Acoustic differentiation and classification of wild belugas and narwhals using echolocation clicks

Zahn

Rankin

McCullough

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are highly social Arctic toothed whales with large vocal repertoires and similar acoustic profiles. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) that uses multiple hydrophones over large spatiotemporal scales has been a primary method to study their populations, particularly in response to rapid climate change and increasing underwater noise. This study marks the first acoustic comparison between wild belugas and narwhals from the same location and reveals that they can be acoustically differentiated and classified solely by echolocation clicks. Acoustic recordings were made in the pack ice of Baffin Bay, West Greenland, during 2013. Multivariate analyses and Random Forests classification models were applied to eighty-one single-species acoustic events comprised of numerous echolocation clicks. Results demonstrate a significant difference between species’ acoustic parameters where beluga echolocation was distinguished by higher frequency content, evidenced by higher peak frequencies, center frequencies, and frequency minimums and maximums. Spectral peaks, troughs, and center frequencies for beluga clicks were generally > 60 kHz and narwhal clicks < 60 kHz with overlap between 40–60 kHz. Classification model predictive performance was strong with an overall correct classification rate of 97.5% for the best model. The most important predictors for species assignment were defined by peaks and notches in frequency spectra. Our results provide strong support for the use of echolocation in PAM efforts to differentiate belugas and narwhals acoustically.

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Underwater sound levels in the Canadian Arctic, 2014–2019

Cited by 21 publications

References 73 publications

Underwater Sound Levels in the Arctic: Filling Knowledge Gaps

Underwater Sound Levels in the Arctic: Filling Knowledge Gaps

Temporal patterns in the soundscape of a Norwegian gateway to the Arctic

Acoustic differentiation and classification of wild belugas and narwhals using echolocation clicks

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