AFSC/MML: Acoustics long-term passive monitoring using moored autonomous recorders in the Bering, Chukchi, and Western Beaufort Seas, 2007-2023

The Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML) has deployed long-term passive acoustic recorders in various locations in Alaskan waters and in the High Arctic to determine spatio-temporal distribution of marine mammals as well as environmental and anthropogenic noise. Following the timing of peak calling among the various long-term recorders may provide some insight into finer-scale movements of cetaceans throughout the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas as well as in the Gulf of Alaska. Changes in ambient noise levels can also be tracked. Recordings are available since 2007 in the Bering and Beaufort Seas, since 2010 in the Chukchi, since 2019 in the Gulf of Alaska, and from 2008-2012 in Fram Strait. The majority of these recorders were deployed on MML subsurface moorings, although several have been deployed on the oceanographic moorings of other researchers. Several different types of autonomous passive acoustic recorders have been deployed, most for one year. Recording parameters varied among instrument types and have evolved among projects. The majority of these recorders and deployments were funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM); however, funding in recent years has come from the Office of Naval Research (Marine Mammals and Biology Program), NMFS Office of Protected Resources, and the NMFS Office of Science and Technology (including the Ocean Acoustic Program).

The purpose of these long-term recorder deployments is to assess year-round presence, distribution, and relative abundance of marine mammals in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, as well as in Fram Strait.

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Recordings are analyzed for presence of marine mammal vocalizations. Questionable or ambiguous acoustic detections are analyzed in more detail, and if necessary, clips are sent to colleagues for confirmation or identification.

In some instances, information only applies to one type of recorder. Also, deployments or recoveries made by colleagues are often lacking information. A few recorders were lost and not recovered, or failed to record.

Not applicable.

Recordings are analyzed for presence of marine mammal vocalizations. Questionable or ambiguous acoustic detections are analyzed in more detail, and if necessary, clips are sent to colleagues for confirmation or identification.

IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Western Regional Support Center in Seattle, Washington, following a disruption.

Three different types of passive acoustic recorders have been used: AURALs (Autonomous Underwater Recorder for Acoustic Listening, Multi-Électronique, Inc., Rimouski, QC), EARs (Ecological Acoustic Recorders, in collaboration with Drs. Marc Lammers and Whitlow Au, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Univ. of HI, Kaneohe, HI), and Haruphones (Haru Matsumoto, CIMRS/NOAA, Newport, OR)); the majority have been AURALs. Recording parameters vary among instrument types and have evolved among projects. Most recorders are deployed for one year and are duty cycled to record for a full year. However, several recorders were deployed short-term (1 week to 1 month) in the Beaufort Sea and have higher duty cycles/sampling rates. Sampling rates range from 2 kHz-40kHz (majority 8kHz or 16kHz), and all recorders are duty cycled from 23-97% (majority around 30%) on a cycle period of 20min-5hrs. The majority of these recorders were deployed on MML subsurface moorings, although several have been deployed on the subsurface oceanographic moorings of other researchers. These moorings include the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory/NOAA (Phyllis Stabeno) moorings along the 70m isobath in the Bering Sea, the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (Steve Okkonen) moorings off Barrow, AK, one Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Robert Pickart) mooring in the Chukchi Sea, the AIM-1 site on the Chukchi Plateau (Institute of Ocean Sciences - Fisheries and Oceans Canada/ Humfrey Melling), and two sites in the Fram Strait: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Dirk Kalmbach) and University of Oslo (Øystein Wiig). After recorder is retrieved, data are extracted, converted into ten-minute wave files, and given standardized filenames that provide the location, recorder type, and field time information. Further information can be obtained via the following final reports: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/PDF/BOWFEST-2013-Final-Report.pdf.