Acoustic Validation Study
Stellwagen Alive! acts as a ‘fiscal agent’ for a variety of scientific projects. As a responsible steward, we receive special grants to administer. One of them is an Acoustic Validation Study, in which scientists ‘listen in’ on the noises of the sea to understand its patterns.
Details
The full study is known as An Ocean Observing System for Large Scale
Monitoring and Mapping of Noise Throughout the Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary. It is an ocean-observing system for large-scale
monitoring and mapping of noise throughout the Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary. A collaborative scientific effort, the study aims to
identify noise sources on the Bank and evaluate their potential impact
on marine mammals and fish.
Beginnings
In 2007, collaborators from NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Cornell University's Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) and Marine Bioacoustics, Inc. (a private company based in Rhode Island) began a three-year project that will continue their efforts to characterize the underwater acoustic environment of the Sanctuary and further examine the effects of noise on resident marine animals.
Tracking Stellwagen's Noise
Using arrays of autonomous recording units (ARUS) created by Cornell's BRP and temporarily moored using biodegradable materials just above the seafloor, this project will build upon previous efforts to assess the relative contributions of different types of vessels and other sound sources to the total "noise budget" of the sanctuary.
Automatic Identification System (AIS) data gathered through the collaboration of SBNMS and the U.S. Coast Guard's Research and Development Center will be used to continuously track all large vessel traffic in greater sanctuary waters.
Detecting Animal Sounds
In addition to their use in examining shipping noise, ARUs will be used to detect vocalizing large whale species, such as North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales and fin whales. Analysis of these data, to determine where whales are calling and when, will better educate managers as to how these vocally-active species use sanctuary waters.
Analyzing the Data
Data on sound sources and the distribution of whales (as well as preliminary work to detect resident vocally-active fish species), in addition to data from ongoing whale tagging efforts (using suction cup tags developed by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), will be used to examine the response of these species to sound sources. The study will also look at possible changes in communication capabilities due to background noise levels. 
Models developed by researchers from Marine Acoustics, Inc. will be used to bring together data from the AIS, ARUs, tags on whales, and environmental sensors to better understand the acoustic environment experienced by, as well as created by, vocally-active animals in the sanctuary.
These integrative analyses rely heavily on accurate modeling of the way sound propagates through sanctuary waters, which is effected both by changes in depth and bottom type and changes in pressure, temperature and salinity.
How You Can Help
This research is funded by an award from the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, and we are always looking for opportunities to improve our knowledge of the Stellwagen Sanctuary.
If you have an idea for a scientific study, are aware of an upcoming grant deadline or know of a grant-funding body that would be interested our research and educational efforts, please contact us with the details.