Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada; School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Jul;168:112437. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112437. Epub 2021 May 3.
The Arctic has been a refuge from anthropogenic underwater noise; however, climate change has caused summer sea ice to diminish, allowing for unprecedented access and the potential for increased underwater noise. Baseline underwater sound levels must be quantified to monitor future changes and manage underwater noise in the Arctic. We analyzed 39 passive acoustic datasets collected throughout the Canadian Arctic from 2014 to 2019 using statistical models to examine spatial and temporal trends in daily mean sound pressure levels (SPL) and quantify environmental and anthropogenic drivers of SPL. SPL (50-1000 Hz) ranged from 70 to 127 dB re 1 μPa (median = 91 dB). SPL increased as wind speed increased, but decreased as both ice concentration and air temperature increased, and SPL increased as the number of ships per day increased. This study provides a baseline for underwater sound levels in the Canadian Arctic and fills many geographic gaps on published underwater sound levels.
北极一直是人为水下噪声的避难所；然而，气候变化导致夏季海冰减少，使得人们以前所未有的方式进入北极，并有可能增加水下噪声。必须量化基准水下声音水平，以监测北极未来的变化并管理水下噪声。我们分析了 2014 年至 2019 年在整个加拿大北极地区收集的 39 个被动声学数据集，使用统计模型来检查每日平均声压级（SPL）的时空趋势，并量化 SPL 的环境和人为驱动因素。SPL（50-1000 Hz）范围为 70 至 127 dB 相对于 1 μPa（中位数= 91 dB）。SPL 随着风速的增加而增加，但随着冰浓度和空气温度的增加而减少，并且随着每天船舶数量的增加而增加。本研究为加拿大北极地区的水下声音水平提供了基线，并填补了许多已发表的水下声音水平的地理空白。
