Enabling long-term soundscape observation via Ocean Networks Canada’s acoustic Northeast-Pacific infrastructure

Abstract

Data time series covering extended periods of time in support of long-term environmental studies are particularly difficult and expensive to collect, especially at offshore locations. Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) undersea cabled observatories in the Northeast Pacific ocean have been collecting an extensive array of oceanographic, seismic, geophysical, biological and acoustical data over periods that, in some cases, extend beyond sixteen years. With regard to soundscape studies, ONC currently owns and operates 22 hydrophones (including four 4-element, three-dimensional arrays) between the VENUS coastal observatory in the Salish Sea and the NEPTUNE offshore deep-sea observatory in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The data, streamed in quasi-real-time to ONC’s web data portal, offer a window on a number of different environments, from the busy, shallow waters of the Salish Sea to the 2200 m of depth of the Endeavour hydrothermal-vent field. This presentation gathers highlights from the latest research utilizing ONC’s acoustic infrastructure and data, ranging from ambient noise to hydrothermal-vent soundscapes, seismic events, bioacoustics, and signal processing applications such as source localization.