17346 AFSC/MML: Acoustics short-term passive monitoring using sonobuoys in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering, Chukchi, and Western Beaufort Seas, Summer 2007-2018 Data Set Published / External 23107 Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program Project In Work 2007 The Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML) has conducted passive acoustic monitoring in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering, Chukchi, and Western Beaufort Seas to determine spatio-temporal distribution of marine mammals as well as environmental and anthropogenic noise. Species and sounds detected on sonobuoys include fin, blue, bowhead, humpback, killer, gray, minke, sperm, beluga, sei, and North Pacific right whales, walrus, ribbon and bearded seals, fish, and seismic airguns. This short-term passive acoustic monitoring was also used to locate vocalizing species of interest for photo-identification, tagging, and behavioral studies. Recordings are available since 2007 in the Bering Sea, since 2010 in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and in 2013 and 2015 in the Gulf of Alaska. Both omnidirectional and DiFAR sonobuoys have been used. In one year (2009), sonobuoys were deployed opportunistically from an aerial survey plane. All sonobuoys were provided by the United States Navy (Naval Operational Logistics Support Center, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy). The purpose of these sonobuoy deployments is to assess short-term presence, distribution, and relative abundance of marine mammals in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, and also to locate vocalizing species of interest for photo-identification, tagging, and behavioral studies. Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 6834, 08-14-2015 14:25 The following FGDC sections are not currently supported in InPort, but were preserved and will be included in the FGDC export: - Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy) Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category biota Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category oceans Theme Difar Theme passive acoustics Theme seismic airguns Theme sonobuoy Temporal fall Temporal summer Spatial Bering Sea Spatial Chukchi Sea Spatial Gulf of Alaska Spatial Western Beaufort Sea National Marine Mammal Laboratory Seattle WA United States Data Set Annually Table (digital) The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose. NOAA denies liability if the data are misused. Sonobuoys were provided by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division; Naval Operational Logistics Support Center; Office of the Assist. Secretary of the Navy. Funding for surveys provided by BOEM, OAR, IWC, and Government of Japan. Sonobuoy Drifting NA 26413 csv file Published / External In Work Sonobuoy data Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 6834, 08-14-2015 14:25 Data File Sonobuoy data ID NUMBER No No Active Numerical ID of sonobuoy record 1 - 2224 CruiseID NUMBER No No Active Research cruise or flight on which the sonobuoy was deployed. Comprised of name, year (yy) -leg (if multiple legs exist). RW = NPRW cruise, RWGOA = right whale Gulf of Alaska, CZ = CHAOZ cruise, AWCX = Arcwest/CHAOZ-X cruise, GOALS = Gulf of Alaska cruise, ALTIMA = Arctic Long-Term Integrated Mooring Array, AIERP = Arctic Integrated Ecosystem Research Program, IWC_POWER = International Whaling Commission Pacific Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research, Dyson = NOAA ship Oscar Dyson, HLY = USCGC Healy, AQ = Aquila. AE = Aerial survey. 1 - 13 Station no NUMBER No No Active Sequential number given for each sonobuoy deployment of a particular cruise. 1 - 306 Deploy Timestamp Unknown No No Active Date and time of sonobuoy deployment (Local Time) Deploy success Unknown No No Active 1 = successful deployment, 0 = unsuccessful deployment. Deployment depth Unknown No No Active Water column depth at time of deployment (meters). Latitude Unknown No No Active Latitude of sonobuoy deployment (Decimal Degrees). Longitude Unknown No No Active Longitude of sonobuoy deployment (Decimal Degrees). Type Unknown No No Active Model of deployed sonobuoy . Manufacturer Unknown No No Active Manufacturer of deployed sonobuoy. Year manufactured Unknown No No Active Year the deployed sonobuoy was manufactured. Hours Unknown No No Active Time setting of deployed sonobuoy (hours). Depth settings Unknown No No Active Depth setting of deployed sonobuoy. Other Unknown No No Active Other settings of deployed sonobuoy. Modifications Unknown No No Active Any modifications done to the sonobuoy before deployment such as tying up, changing display battery, or taping up. Right whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of right whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Bowhead whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of bowhead whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Humpback whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of humpback whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Fin whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of fin whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Killer whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of killer whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Walrus NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of walrus calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Gray whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of gray whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Minke whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of minke whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Unknown species Unknown No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of unknown species calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. Airguns NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of seismic airgun signals. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Sperm whale NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of sperm whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Bearded Seal NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of bearded seal calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Beluga NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of beluga whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Sei NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of sei whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Blue NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of blue whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Ribbon Seal NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of ribbon seal calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Unknown Pinniped NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of unidentified pinniped calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. 0 - 2 Fish NUMBER No No Active Numerical value given to denote detection of unidentified fish calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. Data Steward 2007 Person Berchok, Catherine catherine.berchok@noaa.gov 206-526-6331 Distributor 2015-08-14 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI ncei.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact NCEI Contact Information Information for contacts at NCEI. Online Resource Originator 2015-08-14 Organization Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC afsc.webmaster@noaa.gov https://ror.org/01h7fye62 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., Building 4 Seattle WA 98115 USA (206) 526-4000 (206) 526-4004 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/alaska-fisheries-science-center AKFSC Home Page Online Resource 0700-1700 Pacific Time Point of Contact 2015-08-14 Person Berchok, Catherine catherine.berchok@noaa.gov 206-526-6331 Ground Condition 170.3 -149.5 73.5 53.5 Gulf of Alaska, Bering, Chukchi, and Western Beaufort Seas Range 2007 2014 Unclassified The data are available at NCEI: http://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0138863 There are no legal restrictions on access to the data. They reside in public domain and can be freely distributed. User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. Acknowledgement of NOAA/NMFS/AFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested. https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0138863 2015-08-14 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 csv file with sonobuoy data. csv (comma-separated values) CSV - Comma Separated Values (Text) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2012.00573.x/full Online Resource Rone et al. 2012. Using air-deployed passive sonobuoys to detect and locate critically endangered North Pacific right whales. Marine Mammal Science Volume 28, Issue 4, pages E528–E538. Excel and Matlab files In previous years, some information was not always recorded including specific sonobuoy information (e.g. Manufacturer, Year, Settings, etc.) or deployment information (e.g. time, water depth, channel settings, etc.). Not applicable. Sonobuoy recordings are reviewed upon returning from the survey. Questionable acoustic detections are analyzed, and if necessary, clips are sent to colleagues for confirmation or identification. No 0 Yes No Unknown NCEI-CO Unknown IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Western Regional Support Center in Seattle, Washington, following a disruption. A sonobuoy is a free-floating, expendable, short-term passive acoustic listening device that transmits signals in real time via VHF radio waves to a receiver on a vessel or aircraft. The hydrophone is suspended down from the surface float at a programmable depth. For the majority of deployments, modifications were made by tying or taping sections of the sonobuoy housing to prevent the main wire spool from deploying; the resulting deployment depth was then 24 m. Additional modifications involved replacement of the display battery. Three types of sonobuoys were used: omnidirectional only, DiFAR only, and programmable DiFAR/Omnidirectional. DiFAR (Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording) capable sonobuoys transmit signal bearing information along with the acoustic signal. If two or more DiFAR sonobuoys are deployed, cross-fixes can be obtained on a calling animal to determine its location. When in DiFAR mode, the maximum frequency is limited to 2.5 kHz; the omni-directional sonobuoys were deployed occasionally in omnidirectional mode to achieve full bandwidth when bearing information was not needed. The methods that follow apply from 2009 on; prior to 2009 a variety of equipment and methods were used (see www.data.boem.gov/PI/PDFImages/ESPIS/5/5243.pdf for further details). The signals transmitted from the sonobuoys were received by one of two antennas, an omnidirectional and a directional (Yagi) antenna. Both antennas were placed in the crow’s nest of the vessel with the directional antenna facing astern. The directional antenna was used primarily during transit when the sonobuoy behind the vessel, and the omnidirectional antenna was used for monitoring multiple sonobuoys simultaneously, or when the boat was idling at station. A switch located in the bridge next to the acoustic station was used to alternate between antennas depending on the direction of travel. The signals received by the shipboard antennas were pre-amplified (15dB; PV160VDA, Advanced Receiver Research, Burlington, VT), before being sent via cabling to three G39WSBe WinRadio sonobuoy receivers, then inputted into a MOTU brand Ultralite mk3 multi-channel external soundcard. The soundcard digitized the signal at a sampling rate of 48 kHz. The external soundcard was connected to a laptop computer where the recordings were monitored in real-time and simultaneously recorded to an external hard drive using ISHMAEL (Mellinger 2001) software. Directional bearing information of calls was obtained using DiFAR demultiplexing software and a custom MATLAB interface (Greeneridge Sciences, Inc. and Mark McDonald, Whale Acoustics). A GPS feed into the computer provided the ship’s position every minute, as well as the sonobuoy deployment location information, and time. A custom tracking and plotting program implemented in MATLAB (Catherine Berchok, MML) allowed for real-time plotting of the vessel and sonobuoy locations, as well as bearing and location coordinates of calling whales. Monitoring occurred in real time 24/7, with the majority of sonobuoys deployed every three hours during ship transits. Analysis of sonobuoy data was undertaken primarily during the cruise. An acoustic technician monitored the scrolling spectrograms of the recordings from each sonobuoy aurally as well as visually, and noted the species detected during its deployment, these are included in the data as detected (1), not-detected (0), or possibly detected (2). Further information can be obtained via the following publications: Crance et al. 2017, and Rone et al. 2012. 1 NA 26413 Entity gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:17346 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2012-12-21T17:13:55 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:18 2019-02-07 Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., Building 4 Seattle WA 98115 USA https://www.afsc.noaa.gov 0700-1700 Pacific Time 1001 Public No No 2019-02-07 1 Year 2020-02-07 Kingdom Animalia Genus Delphinapterus Species leucas Beluga whale Genus Orcinus Species orca Killer whale Genus Balaenoptera Species acutorostrata Minke whale Genus Balaenoptera Species physalus Fin whales Genus Eschrichtius Species robustus Gray whale Genus Eubalaena Species japonica North Pacific right whale Genus Balaena Species mysticetus Bowhead whale Genus Megaptera Species novaeangliae Humpback whales Genus Physeter Species macrocephalus Sperm whale Genus Erignathus Species barbatus Bearded seal csv file Sonobuoy data AFSC ID AFSC 1 2224 CruiseID Research cruise or flight on which the sonobuoy was deployed. Made up of name, year (yy) -leg (if multiple legs exist). RW = NPRW cruise, CZ = CHAOZ cruise, AWCX = Arcwest/CHAOZ-X cruise, GOALS = Gulf of Alaska cruise, Dyson = NOAA ship Oscar Dyson. AE = Aerial survey. AFSC 1 13 Station no Sequential number given for each sonobuoy deployment of a particular cruise. AFSC 1 306 Deploy Timestamp Date and time of sonobuoy deployment (Local Time) AFSC Deploy success Date and time of sonobuoy deployment (Local Time) AFSC Deployment depth Water column depth at time of deployment (meters). AFSC Latitude Latitude of sonobuoy deployment (Decimal Degrees N). AFSC Longitude Longitude of sonobuoy deployment (Decimal Degrees N). AFSC Type Model of deployed sonobuoy . AFSC Manufacturer Manufacturer of deployed sonobuoy. AFSC Year manufactured Year the deployed sonobuoy was manufactured. AFSC Hours Time setting of deployed sonobuoy (hours). AFSC Depth settings Depth setting of deployed sonobuoy. AFSC Other Other settings of deployed sonobuoy. AFSC Modifications Any modifications done to the sonobuoy before deployment such as tying up, changing display battery, or taping up. AFSC Right whale Numerical value given to denote detection of right whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Bowhead whale Numerical value given to denote detection of bowhead whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Humpback whale Numerical value given to denote detection of humpback whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Fin whale Numerical value given to denote detection of fin whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Killer whale Numerical value given to denote detection of killer whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Walrus Numerical value given to denote detection of walrus calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Gray whale Numerical value given to denote detection of gray whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Minke whale Numerical value given to denote detection of minke whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Unknown species Numerical value given to denote detection of unknown species calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC Airguns Numerical value given to denote detection of seismic airgun signals. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Sperm whale Numerical value given to denote detection of sperm whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Bearded Seal Numerical value given to denote detection of bearded seal calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Beluga Numerical value given to denote detection of beluga whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Sei Numerical value given to denote detection of sei whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Blue Numerical value given to denote detection of blue whale calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Ribbon Seal Numerical value given to denote detection of ribbon seal calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2 Unknown Pinniped Numerical value given to denote detection of unidentified pinniped calls. 1 = detected, 0 = not detected, 2 = possibly detected. AFSC 0 2