Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Abstract

As Arctic warming accelerates, the underwater acoustic environment in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly changing. We present the first results of passive acoustic monitoring in the marginal ice zone of the East Siberian Sea (ESS). A high sea ice concentration (SIC) and seasonal variations in ice cover make the ESS an ideal region to verify how ambient sound levels respond to natural physical processes and anthropogenic activities during summer. Our observations show that the sound level in the ESS exhibits a strong negative correlation with SIC, and the sound level in September, which was higher than that in other months, was 16 dB higher than the annual average. This increase resulted from geophony and anthrophony with the reduction in the SIC, and sound level increased by 13 dB without anthrophony. Our results indicate that ambient sound level in the Arctic Ocean may increase as climate change accelerates sea ice melting.

Underwater Sound Levels in the Arctic: Filling Knowledge Gaps

“…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. Although this study only has a single year of data from one monitoring location, it is a first step toward understanding underwater sound levels in the Russian Arctic.…”

“…Many studies have examined how loud the underwater environment is in the Arctic of western North America and between East Greenland and Svalbard, but there are many areas throughout the Arctic with no studies. Han et al (2021) just published the first study on the loudness of the underwater environment in the East Siberian Sea. This study fills an important gap in our knowledge, and I call on other researchers to continue expanding studies into areas of the Arctic where we have no data on underwater sound levels.…”

“…(2021) broadly found the same effect of sea ice concentration on underwater sound levels across the Canadian Arctic. However, the novel aspect of this study by Han et al (2021) is the recording location and the paucity of studies in this region. They provide good quantitative measurements of monthly power spectral density and sound pressure levels that can be used for comparisons in future studies, effectively helping to establish a baseline of underwater sound levels in this under-studied region of the Arctic.…”

“…• 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).…”

“…The author was the lead author of the review by PAME (2019) on underwater noise in the Arctic. The author's research group is striving to continue advancing our knowledge of underwater acoustics in the Arctic, including filling geographic gaps, and the author was pleased to see this study by Han et al (2021) that serves to fill an important geographic gap in the Russian Arctic. The author received no funding to write this commentary.…”