SanctSound: NOAA Navy Sanctuary Soundscape Monitoring Project

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy are engaged in a multi-year effort to monitor underwater sound within the U.S. National Marine Sanctuary System. The agencies are working with numerous scientific partners to study sound within seven national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument, which includes waters off the east coast region of the United States (Stellwagen Bank, Gray’s Reef and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries), the west coast region (Olympic Coast, Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries) and the Pacific region (Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument). The project is designed to provide standardized baseline information important for contextualizing both how much sound is introduced within these protected areas by specific sources and potential impacts to the areas’ marine taxa and habitats. For more information, see https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/monitoring/sound/.

Status

IQOE is past the mid-point in implementation of its Science Plan (available here) and has successfully coordinated a variety of activities in ocean acoustics and bioacoustics through IQOE working groups on the use of acoustics to assess biodiversity, the importance of acoustic observations in the Arctic Ocean, standards for reporting ocean acoustic and bioacoustic data for IQOE, software for making acoustic observations comparable worldwide, and recommendations for implementation of an Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable for the Global Ocean Observing System. IQOE progress has been documented since June 2018 through IQOE Newsletters and since the beginning of the project through other products. IQOE identified 2020 as the Year of the Quiet Ocean because of evidence that ocean sound decreased because of decreases in human activities in the ocean due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next Steps

Activities in 2023 will include completion of the Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable Implementation Plan, initiation of new activities on low-cost ocean acoustic observing systems, launch of the Open Portal to Underwater Sound (OPUS), work on ocean acoustics for the UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and meetings of IQOE working groups and Science Committee.