Soundscape during summer in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Arctic

Abstract

This paper summarises research on ambient noise data collected during the summers of 2016 and 2017 by an autonomous Ambient Noise Measurement System (ANMS) deployed in the Kongsfjorden, Arctic. The primary goals of this study are to identify the various soundscape components and the variation of the soundscape in the Arctic environment during the summers of 2016 and 2017. This work mainly quantifies the ambient noise sources during each month of the summer. After analysing the data, five distinct sources of soundscape were identified, out of which three geophysical sources, including iceberg bubbling, glacier calving, and rain noise, as well as two anthropogenic sources, such as shipping noise and ice ramming noise, were identified. No biological sources were identified either in the summer of 2016 or in 2017. A comparison of average Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) in the summers of 2016 and 2017 shows that the difference in average SPL below 8 kHz is 3 dB re 1 μPa2/Hz.