Leveraging big data: How acoustic archives facilitate ecosystem research

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has developed archives for the long-term stewardship of active and passive acoustic data. Water column sonar data have been collected for fisheries and habitat characterization over large spatial and temporal scales around the world, and archived at NCEI since 2013. Protocols for archiving passive acoustic data are currently being established in support of the NOAA Ocean Noise Reference Station Network project, and monitoring marine mammals and fish. Archives maintain data, but access to these data is a core mission of NCEI that allows users to discover, query, and analyze the data in new and innovative ways. Visualization products continue to be developed and integrated into the data access portal so that researchers of varying backgrounds can easily understand the quality and content of these complex data. Spatially and temporally contemporary oceanographic and bathymetric data are also linked to provide an ecosystem-wide understanding of the region. Providing access and facilitating the utility of these data for ecoacoustics research are ongoing efforts at NCEI, and would benefit from input from the acoustics community.