This record represents the raw passive acoustic data collected from Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network (ADEON) for the U.S. Mid- and South Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which was developed and deployed in November of 2017. This observatory network will generate long-term measurements of both the natural and human factors active in this region, thus informing the ecology and soundscape of the OCS. These data will provide further a mechanistic understanding of the cumulative impacts these factors have on marine resources and provide insight for ecosystem-based management efforts. Long-term observations of living marine resources and marine sound will assist Federal agencies, including BOEM, ONR, and NOAA, in complying with mandates in the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA).

The collection and analysis of passive acoustic data supports research into the soundscape of marine environments. Primary uses include detecting and characterizing sounds produced and used by living marine resources, natural sources of noise from physical oceanographic processes, and anthropogenic noise sources that contribute to the overall ocean noise environment. This analysis supports a wide range of activities including marine mammal stock assessments, monitoring of earthquake and geological activity, and assessing impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine life. The goal of this collection is to steward an accessible national archive of passive acoustic data available to researchers and the public, and to assist NOAA in meeting their data management and accessibility requirements.

The project collected three years of baseline data 12 - 60 km offshore of Maryland prior to construction and operation of an offshore wind energy facility. Two main types of sound recording devices that encompassed a range of frequencies were used to detect vocalizations from baleen whales (low frequencies) and toothed whales (high frequencies): the Marine Autonomous Recording Unit (MARU, or pop-up) sampling at 2 kHz and the C-POD (cetacean click detector), which monitors the 20 - 160 kHz frequency range. These were supplemented by additional acoustic recorders during select periods of the study at five sites to provide further information on mid-frequency sounds, such as dolphin whistling behavior. The use of a grid array design for the acoustic detection devices within the Maryland WEA facilitated localization of vocalizing whales to further understand spatial patterns of habitat usage. RESULTS: There is substantial overlap between marine mammals and the Maryland WEA, but this varies seasonally. While the risk to endangered whales is lowest during the summer, the risk to bottlenose dolphins may be highest at this time, as they are most abundant in the summer time. The year-round occurrence of marine mammals offshore of Maryland will require decision-makers to consider the trade-off of the potential impacts

Passive acoustic monitoring of the ocean ambient sound field is a critical aspect of NOAA's mandate for ocean and coastal stewardship. This includes detecting and characterizing: (1) sounds produced and used by living marine resources (e.g., endangered marine mammals); (2) natural sources of noise from physical oceanographic processes; and (3) anthropogenic noise sources that contribute to the overall ocean noise environment. Noise generated by anthropogenic activities (especially commercial shipping and seismic oil & gas exploration) is increasingly being recognized as a potential threat to marine mammals which are protected in the U.S. by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Current scientific data suggest that increased ambient noise levels impact marine mammals by hindering communication (Hatch et al. 2012), altering communication behavior (Parks et al. 2013), altering locomotive behavior (Pirotta et al. 2013), and inducing stress (Rolland et al. 2012). Additional concerns associated with the degraded acoustic quality of diverse habitats broaden these concerns to include possible repercussions for fish and invertebrate species, many of which NOAA manages as commercially-harvested, protects as resources within sanctuaries, or studies as key elements to sustaining healthy ecosystems. For these reasons it is important for science-based regulatory agencies including NOAA to monitor long-term trends and changes in the ambient sound field. The objective of the proposed project is to establish a network of initially ten ocean noise reference stations in U.S. waters to monitor long-term changes and trends in the underwater ambient sound field (McDonald et al. 2006). Our plan is to deploy identical autonomous acoustic recording systems developed in-house at PMEL at each reference station to ensure proper calibration and consistency of the collected data sets.

DCLDE Workshops are intended for exchanging information that advances our understanding of acoustic methods to detect, classify, locate, track, count, and monitor marine mammals in their natural environment. The goal is to encourage interdisciplinary approaches to solve real-world problems related to the study of marine mammals and the effects of human activities. The DCLDE 2015 dataset consists of data from multiple deployments of high-frequency acoustic recording packages deployed in the Southern California Bight. Separate sets of development data are provided for mysticetes and odontocetes. The mysticete data have been decimated to 1 and 1.6 kHz bandwidth and the odontocete data bandwidth consists of data with 100 and 160 kHz of bandwidth. Data were selected to cover all four seasons and from multiple locations. High-frequency datasets consist of annotated data from multiple odontocete species. Included is Baird’s beaked whale (Berardius bairdii), Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Sperm whale (Physeter macrorhynchus), Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), unspecified porpoise (Phocoenidae), and odontocete other than those described above (Odontoceti). The goal for this dataset is to identify acoustic encounters of a species during times when animals were echolocating. Low-frequency datasets consist of annotated data for specific calls from two mysticete species, blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) D calls and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) 40 Hz calls. The goal for this dataset is to identify specific blue whale D and fin whale 40 Hz calls.

The Pacific Islands Passive Acoustic Network (PIPAN) is a collection of 14 sites spread across the Central and Western Pacific Ocean from American Samoa in the south to Pagan in the west to Manawai in the north, and the Big Island of Hawaii in the east. At each site a bottom-mounted High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package (HARP) instrument was deployed. These instruments were developed and processed in collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), with funding from PIFSC, the U.S. Navy and the Ocean Acoustics Program at the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology. The sites were specifically selected for the detection, classification and long-term monitoring of cetaceans in remote locations or areas of particular interest, and were initially focused on deep-diving species such as beaked whales and sperm whales. The data have subsequently been used for a variety of purposes, such as monitoring of surface-living cetaceans (e.g. delphinids, baleen whales), soundscape monitoring, and habitat modeling. The recordings allow the assessment of changes in vocalizations or distributions that might be related to increasing human sounds or changes in environmental conditions. The data began as early as 2005 at some sites, and are ongoing at selected sites through 2025. The duration of recordings at each site ranges from a few months to over 10 years. At sites with longer time series the data have intermittent gaps due to limited access to remote sites and issues with equipment. The instruments recorded frequencies from 10 Hz to 100 kHz or 160 kHz depending on the deployment. This dataset includes raw acoustic recordings from the HARP deployments and several associated files, which include calibration files (transfer functions) and two readme files that provide details on the acoustic recordings' xwav/flac format and descriptions of transfer functions. All recordings are collected in UTC. Amplitude calibration files called "transfer functions" are associated with the specific HARP equipment used to collect each acoustic recording dataset. Correct use of transfer functions is critical for providing absolute measured sound pressure received levels in standard acoustic measurement units, and for comparing signals within and between deployments. Transfer functions are estimates of a recording system's true sensitivity, and are being continuously evaluated and improved by Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers and are subject to change without notice. Please review the Transfer_Function_readme before using this data. All recordings have been converted to flac format from extended wav (x.wav) format. The xwav header information has been preserved in the conversion to flac format by using the --keep-foreign-metadata flag when compressing the data, however the header byte locations are not correct while the data remain in flac format. To retain the header information when decompressing from flac back to xwav, the --keep-foreign-metadata flag should also be used.

Passive acoustic data collected as part of the 2018 California Current Ecosystem Survey (CCES) study. The stufy was a joint project of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division (MMTD) and the Fisheries Resources Division (FRD) of National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC)

This catalog contains passive acoustic recordings of cetaceans taken from areas within the Pacific Islands Region since 2005.

To understand natural and anthropogenic sound in the ocean, and to compare underwater soundscapes globally, standard methods of analysis must be applied to passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data. Methods that balance constrained volume and adequate resolution of acoustic spectra have recently been published (Martin et al., 2021a,b). A community effort supported by NOAA, BOEM, U.S. Navy, and ONR was initiated to apply these methods to PAM datasets from around the world. These data are hybrid millidecade (HMD) spectra of sound levels derived from calibrated passive acoustic data. Daily HMD at 1 minute resolution were created using standalone MANTA software (v9.6.13) from audio data recorded by the SanctSound monitoring project at various sites.

This record represents the raw passive acoustic data collected by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and the Alfred Wegener Institute using Autonomous Hydrophones deployed in the Fram Straight.