A Gulf of Maine Ambient Sound Network 

PI: Jason Gedamke, NOAA NMFS
Start Year: 2023 | Duration: 3 years
Partners: Navy-ONR, NOAA-National Ocean Service (NOS) & National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), BOEM 

Project Abstract:

The Gulf of Maine (GoMe) is a semi-enclosed sea with limited exchange of waters with the northwestern Atlantic due to a large series of shoals and banks along its southern and southeastern boundary. The interior GoMe is fed by surface waters from the Nova Scotian shelf and by deeper, nutrient rich slope waters entering through the Northeast channel. Changes to these currents and recent northward shifts of the Gulf Stream have magnified the influence of climate change in the GoMe. It has been found, for example, that sea surface temperatures in the GoMe are increasing faster than 99% of the global ocean, and benthic waters are also rapidly increasing at a rate of 0.2°C/yr. These and other related effects have influenced change in the GoMe ecosystem at multiple trophic levels, including species that are endangered and/or are important considerations for the shifting/growing activities of the blue economy. 

One aspect of detecting and monitoring climate change in the GoMe is monitoring its soundscape. Natural sound has been used, for example, to monitor bubble-mediated air-sea gas exchange, rainfall, the habitat usage and behavior of marine organisms (e.g., marine mammals, soniferous fishes), and the sound of healthy reef systems. Federal, state, and academic efforts are currently underway to monitor ambient sound in the GoMe, although these efforts lack the permanency required for long-term change detection. This effort seeks to add connectivity and build community around these efforts, leveraging existing federal agency investments and creating an environment that enhances wider and deeper understanding of the GoMe system and its natural and anthropogenic influences.