Characteristics of seismic survey pulses and the ambient soundscape in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, West Greenland

Martin, Bruce; Matthews, Marie-Noël R.; MacDonnell, Jeff; Bröker, Koen

doi:10.1121/1.5014049

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Seismic occurrence was most frequent at stations 7 and 8, at the mouth of the Porcupine Seabight, ( Fig 11 ) because the other stations were shadowed by the shelf. The absence of a discernable Cuvier’s and Sowerby’s beaked whale acoustic behavioural reaction in terms of click presence/absence and the low level of received seismic energy suggests little impact from seismic activity at these received levels [ 98 ]. The detection of naval sonar pulses was of concern, due to its association with previous stranding events by deep-diving species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signals from the deep: Spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland

Kowarski¹,

Delarue²,

Martin³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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Little is known of the spatio-temporal occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland, limiting the ability of Regulators to implement appropriate management and conservation measures. To address this knowledge gap, static acoustic monitoring was carried out using eight fixed bottom-mounted autonomous acoustic recorders: four from May to December 2015 on Ireland’s northern slope and four from March to November 2016 on the western and southern slopes. Recorders ran for 205 to 230 days, resulting in 4.09 TB of data sampled at 250 kHz which could capture beaked whale acoustic signals. Zero-crossing-based automated detectors identified beaked whale clicks. A sample of detections was manually validated to evaluate and optimize detector performance. Analysis confirmed the occurrence of Sowerby’s and Cuvier’s beaked whales and Northern bottlenose whales. Northern bottlenose whale clicks occurred in late summer and autumn, but were too few to allow further analysis. Cuvier’s and Sowerby’s clicks occurred at all stations throughout the monitoring period. There was a significant effect of month and station (latitude) on the mean daily number of click detections for both species. Cuvier’s clicks were more abundant at lower latitudes while Sowerby’s were greater at higher latitudes, particularly in the spring, suggesting a spatial segregation between species, possibly driven by prey preference. Cuvier’s occurrence increased in late autumn 2015 off northwest Porcupine Bank, a region of higher relative occurrence for each species. Seismic airgun shots, with daily sound exposure levels as high as 175 dB re 1 μPa2·s, did not appear to impact the mean daily number of Cuvier’s or Sowerby’s beaked whale click detections. This work provides insight into the significance of Irish waters for beaked whales and highlights the importance of using acoustics for beaked whale monitoring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signals from the deep: Spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland

Kowarski¹,

Delarue²,

Martin³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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“…The North Atlantic is frequently affected by wide-ranging seismic surveys (Nieukirk et al, 2012), some of which can be detected in high Arctic areas where anthropogenic noise is rarely encountered (Moore et al, 2012b;Ahonen et al, 2017). Even in high Arctic areas, local seismic surveys are periodically a concern for endemic marine mammal populations (Heide-Jørgensen et al, 2012;Martin et al, 2017;Kyhn et al, 2019). These surveys are conducted during the ice-free season when Arctic whales are either in coastal areas or migrating between summer and winter grounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Response Study on Seismic Airgun and Vessel Exposures in Narwhals

et al. 2021

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One of the last pristine marine soundscapes, the Arctic, is exposed to increasing anthropogenic activities due to climate-induced decrease in sea ice coverage. In this study, we combined movement and behavioral data from animal-borne tags in a controlled sound exposure study to describe the reactions of narwhals, Monodon monoceros, to airgun pulses and ship noise. Sixteen narwhals were live captured and instrumented with satellite tags and Acousonde acoustic-behavioral recorders, and 11 of them were exposed to airgun pulses and vessel sounds. The sound exposure levels (SELs) of pulses from a small airgun (3.4 L) used in 2017 and a larger one (17.0 L) used in 2018 were measured using drifting recorders. The experiment was divided into trials with airgun and ship-noise exposure, intertrials with only ship-noise, and pre- and postexposure periods. Both trials and intertrials lasted ∼4 h on average per individual. Depending on the location of the whales, the number of separate exposures ranged between one and eight trials or intertrials. Received pulse SELs dropped below 130 dB re 1 μPa2 s by 2.5 km for the small airgun and 4–9 km for the larger airgun, and background noise levels were reached at distances of ∼3 and 8–10.5 km, respectively, for the small and big airguns. Avoidance reactions of the whales could be detected at distances >5 km in 2017 and >11 km in 2018 when in line of sight of the seismic vessel. Meanwhile, a ∼30% increase in horizontal travel speed could be detected up to 2 h before the seismic vessel was in line of sight. Applying line of sight as the criterion for exposure thus excludes some potential pre-response effects, and our estimates of effects must therefore be considered conservative. The whales reacted by changing their swimming speed and direction at distances between 5 and 24 km depending on topographical surroundings where the exposure occurred. The propensity of the whales to move towards the shore increased with increasing exposure (i.e., shorter distance to vessels) and was highest with the large airgun used in 2018, where the whales moved towards the shore at distances of 10–15 km. No long-term effects of the response study could be detected.

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“…For example, the biophony will only be a large component of the soundscape if soniferous animals live in that area and actively make sounds (e.g., Ahonen et al 2017;Halliday et al 2018b;Pine et al 2018b). Anthropophony will only influence the soundscape if noisy anthropogenic activities occur in that area (Gervaise et al 2012;Martin et al 2017). Although the relative contribution of the geophony will vary among soundscapes, noise from wind and waves will likely be a large contributor to the soundscape at all locations (Wenz 1962;Roth et al 2012;Insley et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The summer soundscape of a shallow-water estuary used by beluga whales in the western Canadian Arctic

et al. 2020

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The soundscape is an important habitat component for marine animals. In the Arctic, marine conditions are changing rapidly due to sea ice loss and increased anthropogenic activities such as shipping, which will influence the soundscape. Here, we assess the contributors to the summer soundscape in the shallow waters of the Mackenzie River estuary within the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area in the western Canadian Arctic, a core summering habitat for beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, 1776). We collected passive acoustic data during the summer over four years, and assessed the influence of physical variables, beluga whale vocalizations, and boat noise on sound pressure levels in three frequency bands (low: 0.2-1 kHz; medium: 1-10 kHz; high: 10-48 kHz) to quantify the soundscape. Wind speed, wave height, beluga vocalizations, and boat noise were all large contributors to the soundscape in various frequency bands. The soundscape varied to a lesser degree between sites, time of day, and with tide height, but remained relatively constant between years. This study is the first detailed description of a shallow summer soundscape in the western Canadian Arctic, an important habitat for beluga whales, and can be used as a baseline to monitor future changes during this season.

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Characteristics of seismic survey pulses and the ambient soundscape in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, West Greenland

Cited by 17 publications

References 60 publications

Signals from the deep: Spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland

Signals from the deep: Spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland

Behavioral Response Study on Seismic Airgun and Vessel Exposures in Narwhals

The summer soundscape of a shallow-water estuary used by beluga whales in the western Canadian Arctic

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