Long Term Trends and Sources of Sound in United States Waters

• Main Author: Haver, Samara M.
• Other Authors: Heppell, Scott A., Van Parijs, Sofie M., Mellinger, David K., Tolar-Burton, Vicki, Haxel, Joseph H., Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University. Cooperative Institute for Marine Resource Studies, Hatfield Marine Science Center
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Arctic; Buck Island; Glacier Bay
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/wp988s330

Passive acoustic monitoring is a valuable tool for observing the status of marine environments. Comparisons of underwater soundscapes over temporal and spatial scales can provide data to inform marine conservation efforts, including protection of threatened and endangered species. This dissertation utilizes passive acoustic data collected via a broadly spaced array of autonomous hydrophones, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Park Service Noise Reference Station Network. The Noise Reference Station Network is the first effort to continuously sample widespread ocean areas across the United States using identically calibrated passive acoustic instrumentation. Using these data, I measure and compare diverse acoustic environments and management contexts of marine soundscapes in all major regions of United States waters. The chapters of this dissertation quantify the levels and drivers of ambient sound in marine protected and biologically important areas at different scales. Chapter 2 compares the sound levels and trends at five widespread deep-water (>500 m depth) sites (Alaskan Arctic, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Gulf of Mexico, and Northeast Canyons and Monuments National Monument). Chapter 3 evaluates the acoustic environments of four shallow (<100 m depth) marine protected areas (Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, National Park of American Samoa, Buck Island Reef National Monument, and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve). Chapter 4 is a two-year-long case-study at a single deep-water site (550 m depth) in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Chapter 5 links international acoustic pressure indicators for commercial shipping activity to vessel movement records at five deep-water (>500 m depth) sites (Gulf of Mexico, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Hawaii, Northeast Canyons and Monuments National Monument, and Alaskan Arctic). The results of the four manuscripts included in this dissertation provide ...