Acoustic vector sensor beamforming reduces masking from underwater industrial noise during passive monitoring.

Masking from industrial noise can hamper the ability to detect marine mammal sounds near industrial operations, whenever conventional (pressure sensor) hydrophones are used for passive acoustic monitoring. Using data collected from an autonomous recorder with directional capabilities (Directional Autonomous Seafloor Acoustic Recorder), deployed 4.1 km from an arctic drilling site in 2012, the authors demonstrate how conventional beamforming on an acoustic vector sensor can be used to suppress noise arriving from a narrow sector of geographic azimuths. Improvements in signal-to-noise ratio of up to 15 dB are demonstrated on bowhead whale calls, which were otherwise undetectable using conventional hydrophones.

Effects of airgun sounds on bowhead whale calling rates: evidence for two behavioral thresholds.

In proximity to seismic operations, bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) decrease their calling rates. Here, we investigate the transition from normal calling behavior to decreased calling and identify two threshold levels of received sound from airgun pulses at which calling behavior changes. Data were collected in August-October 2007-2010, during the westward autumn migration in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Up to 40 directional acoustic recorders (DASARs) were deployed at five sites offshore of the Alaskan North Slope. Using triangulation, whale calls localized within 2 km of each DASAR were identified and tallied every 10 minutes each season, so that the detected call rate could be interpreted as the actual call production rate. Moreover, airgun pulses were identified on each DASAR, analyzed, and a cumulative sound exposure level was computed for each 10-min period each season (CSEL10-min). A Poisson regression model was used to examine the relationship between the received CSEL10-min from airguns and the number of detected bowhead calls. Calling rates increased as soon as airgun pulses were detectable, compared to calling rates in the absence of airgun pulses. After the initial increase, calling rates leveled off at a received CSEL10-min of ~94 dB re 1 µPa2-s (the lower threshold). In contrast, once CSEL10-min exceeded ~127 dB re 1 µPa2-s (the upper threshold), whale calling rates began decreasing, and when CSEL10-min values were above ~160 dB re 1 µPa2-s, the whales were virtually silent.

Automated detection and localization of bowhead whale sounds in the presence of seismic airgun surveys.

An automated procedure has been developed for detecting and localizing frequency-modulated bowhead whale sounds in the presence of seismic airgun surveys. The procedure was applied to four years of data, collected from over 30 directional autonomous recording packages deployed over a 280 km span of continental shelf in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. The procedure has six sequential stages that begin by extracting 25-element feature vectors from spectrograms of potential call candidates. Two cascaded neural networks then classify some feature vectors as bowhead calls, and the procedure then matches calls between recorders to triangulate locations. To train the networks, manual analysts flagged 219 471 bowhead call examples from 2008 and 2009. Manual analyses were also used to identify 1.17 million transient signals that were not whale calls. The network output thresholds were adjusted to reject 20% of whale calls in the training data. Validation runs using 2007 and 2010 data found that the procedure missed 30%-40% of manually detected calls. Furthermore, 20%-40% of the sounds flagged as calls are not present in the manual analyses; however, these extra detections incorporate legitimate whale calls overlooked by human analysts. Both manual and automated methods produce similar spatial and temporal call distributions.

Long range transmission loss of broadband seismic pulses in the Arctic under ice-free conditions.

In 2008 the Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL) surveyed deep Arctic waters using a three-airgun seismic source. Signals from the seismic survey were detected between 400 km and 1300 km range on a directional autonomous acoustic recorder deployed in water 53 m deep off the Alaskan North Slope. Observations of received signal levels between 10-450 Hz versus LSSL range roughly fit a cylindrical transmission loss model plus 0.01 dB/km attenuation in deep ice-free waters, and fit previous empirical models in ice-covered waters. The transition between ice-free and ice-covered propagation conditions shifted 200 km closer to the recorder during the survey.

Sounds and vibrations in the frozen Beaufort Sea during gravel island construction.

Underwater and airborne sounds and ice-borne vibrations were recorded from sea-ice near an artificial gravel island during its initial construction in the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Such measurements are needed for characterizing the properties of island construction sounds to assess their possible impacts on wildlife. Recordings were made in February-May 2000 when BP Exploration (Alaska) began constructing Northstar Island about 5 km offshore, at 12 m depth. Activities recorded included ice augering, pumping sea water to flood the ice and build an ice road, a bulldozer plowing snow, a Ditchwitch cutting ice, trucks hauling gravel over an ice road to the island site, a backhoe trenching the sea bottom for a pipeline, and both vibratory and impact sheet pile driving. For all but one sound source (underwater measurements of pumping) the strongest one-third octave band was under 300 Hz. Vibratory and impact pile driving created the strongest sounds. Received levels of sound and vibration, as measured in the strongest one-third octave band for different construction activities, reached median background levels <7.5 km away for underwater sounds, <3 km away for airborne sounds, and <10 km away for in-ice vibrations.

Sounds from an oil production island in the Beaufort Sea in summer: characteristics and contribution of vessels.

The objective of this study was to determine the levels, characteristics, and range dependence of underwater and in-air sounds produced during the open-water seasons of 2000-2003 by the Northstar oil development, located in nearshore waters of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Specifically, sounds originating at the island itself (from construction, drilling, and oil production activities) were compared with sounds produced by vessels performing island support. Sounds were obtained with boat-based recordings (at distances up to 37 km from Northstar), a cabled hydrophone (distance approximately 450 m), and with autonomous seafloor recorders (distance approximately 22 km). Vessels (crew boat, tugs, self-propelled barges) were the main contributors to the underwater sound field and were often detectable underwater as much as approximately 30 km offshore. Without vessels, broadband island sounds reached background values at 2-4 km. Island sound levels showed more variation (lower min, higher max) during construction than during drilling and production. In-air broadband measurements were not affected by the presence of vessels and reached background values 1-4 km from Northstar. However, one airborne tone (81 Hz) believed to originate at Northstar was still detectable in the spectrum 37 km away.

Drilling and operational sounds from an oil production island in the ice-covered Beaufort sea.

Recordings of sounds underwater and in air, and of iceborne vibrations, were obtained at Northstar Island, an artificial gravel island in the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay (Alaska). The aim was to document the levels, characteristics, and range dependence of sounds and vibrations produced by drilling and oil production during the winter, when the island was surrounded by shore-fast ice. Drilling produced the highest underwater broadband (10-10,000 Hz) levels (maximum= 124 dB re: 1 microPa at 1 km), and mainly affected 700-1400 Hz frequencies. In contrast, drilling did not increase broadband levels in air or ice relative to levels during other island activities. Production did not increase broadband levels for any of the sensors. In all media, broadband levels decreased by approximately 20 dB/tenfold change in distance. Background levels underwater were reached by 9.4 km during drilling and 3-4 km without. In the air and ice, background levels were reached 5-10 km and 2-10 km from Northstar, respectively, depending on the wind but irrespective of drilling. A comparison of the recorded sounds with harbor and ringed seal audiograms showed that Northstar sounds were probably audible to seals, at least intermittently, out to approximately 1.5 km in water and approximately 5 km in air.

Directional frequency and recording (DIFAR) sensors in seafloor recorders to locate calling bowhead whales during their fall migration.

Bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, migrate west during fall approximately 10-75 km off the north coast of Alaska, passing the petroleum developments around Prudhoe Bay. Oil production operations on an artificial island 5 km offshore create sounds heard by some whales. As part of an effort to assess whether migrating whales deflect farther offshore at times with high industrial noise, an acoustical approach was selected for localizing calling whales. The technique incorporated DIFAR (directional frequency and recording) sonobuoy techniques. An array of 11 DASARs (directional autonomous seafloor acoustic recorders) was built and installed with unit-to-unit separation of 5 km. When two or more DASARs detected the same call, the whale location was determined from the bearing intersections. This article describes the acoustic methods used to determine the locations of the calling bowhead whales and shows the types and precision of the data acquired. Calibration transmissions at GPS-measured times and locations provided measures of the individual DASAR clock drift and directional orientation. The standard error of the bearing measurements at distances of 3-4 km was approximately 1.35 degrees after corrections for gain imbalance in the two directional sensors. During 23 days in 2002, 10,587 bowhead calls were detected and 8383 were localized.