43 Ambient sound levels SNE wind lease areas
Description: Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) simultaneously captures the biological, anthropogenic, climatological, and geological sounds occurring in an area. PAM provides continuous sampling effort in areas that are otherwise difficult to access, resulting in long-term, robust datasets. Ambient sound (soundscape) metrics show the distribution of acoustic energy across frequencies. Peaks in sound levels within particular frequency bins indicate louder sounds at those frequencies, with frequencies below 1000 Hz typically representing contributions from baleen whales, vessel traffic, and noise-generating fishes. Therefore, soundscapes can be used as an indicator of ecosystem health and to identify changes to sound sources, which could be indicative of changes in phenology, species distributions, storm activity, and human activity.
Found in: State of the Ecosystem - Indicator Catalog (2025+)
Indicator category: Extensive analysis, not yet published
Contributor(s): Renea Briner, Amanda Holdman, Genevieve Davis, Rhett Finley, Sophie Ferguson, Leila Hatch, Samara Haver, Jessica McCordic, Xavier Mouy, Anita Murray, Maricarmen Serna, Anne Smith, Erin Summers, Lindsey Transue, Christopher Tremblay, Annabel Westell, Rebecca Vanhoeck, Sofie Van Parijs, Isabella Garfield, Joel Bell, Amy Engelhaupt
Data steward: Renea Briner renea.briner@noaa.gov
Point of contact: Renea Briner renea.briner@noaa.gov
Public availability statement: Source data are publicly available.
43.1 Methods
43.1.1 Data sources
43.1.1.1 Mid-Atlantic Bight
Data were collected by the NEFSC Passive Acoustics Branch, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, and Amy Engelhaupt Consulting from a total of nine recording sites throughout the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Recorders were arranged in transects spanning the continental shelf. Data collection occurred from June 2022 to November 2024 and each recorder used a minimum sample rate of 48 kHz.
43.1.1.2 Gulf of Maine
Data were collected by the NEFSC Passive Acoustics Branch, Maine Department of Marine Resources, and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries from a total of nine recording sites throughout the Gulf of Maine. Recorders were broadly grouped into three subregions: coastal Gulf of Maine, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and offshore Gulf of Maine. Data collection occurred from January 2020 to July 2024 and each recorder used a minimum sample rate of 48 kHz.
43.1.2 Data analysis
To assess peaks in fish chorusing and temporal trends at each monitoring station, hourly median sound levels (dB re 1µPa2/Hz) in the 500 Hz, 1 kHz, and 2 kHz center frequency octave bands were calculated from one-minute hybrid-millidecade levels using the soundscape data visualization and analysis R package PAMscapes (Sakai, 2025).
43.1.3 Data processing
Hybrid millidecade sound levels (dB re 1µPa2/Hz; Martin et al., 2021 (Martin et al. 2021)) were calculated to one-minute resolution bins from raw continuous .wav audio files using the PyPAM package in Python (Parcerisas, 2022 (Parcerisas 2022)). Data was calibrated according to a manufacturer provided frequency response value unique to each recorder.
catalog link https://noaa-edab.github.io/catalog/wea_sound.html