Oceanography | Vol. 38, No. 2
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from acoustic backscatter data, can be compared to the ecolog
ical modeling results to gain a better understanding of the rela
tionship between potential prey species and marine mammal
predators to further enhance the use of acoustic prey data as an
ecological monitoring tool. Acoustically inferred prey commu
nity structure and biomass, in addition to surface and at-depth
measurements of physical water column features, can be coupled
with acoustic detections of marine mammals to better inform the
fine-scale response of top predators, initiating a more complete
understanding of ecosystem structure and ecosystem changes.
EVOLVING THE ADEON COMMUNITY
The terabytes of acoustic and oceanographic data acquired in
ADEON are valuable in their own right as a baseline charac
terization of the Mid- and South Atlantic OCS, but their value
will continue to increase through the use of the data in ecolog
ical and soundscape modeling to support future predictions
and scenarios as environmental conditions change. Innovative
development of online visualization tools to explore ADEON’s
integration of acoustic observations, soundscape modeling,
environmental parameters, visual surveys, and remote sens
ing (https://adeon.unh.edu/map) promotes the use of ADEON
data beyond the program end. These tools assist in creat
ing value-added products so that the information is used as
widely as possible.
While all ADEON recordings are publicly available for down
load, most researchers lack the 116 TB required to store the
audio files, and interested parties may not have access to nor
the training required for using audio analysis software. To aid
researchers and the public in exploring the ADEON datasets,
an integrated suite of web-based visualization tools was cre
ated. The visualization portal page opens with a map that shows
ADEON lander locations surrounded by marine mammal sight
ings from the project’s cruises (Figure 7a). Animations that can
be viewed on the main map allow the site visitor to play back
years of soundscape modeling data, showing predicted contri
butions from wind and AIS-tracked ships. Additional contextual
layers can be displayed that show environmental data collected
from remote satellite sources, such as chlorophyll concentrations
from NASA and surface temperatures from NOAA’s RTOFS
model, to explore meaningful relationships among the parame
ters. Selecting a lander icon on the map opens an interface with
details on the lander and shows tabs for accessing lander-specific
data visualizations.
FIGURE 5. (a) Single time snap
shot of the modeled 125 Hz
decidecade band sound pres
sure levels (SPL), combined wind
and ship SPL (in dB) at the sea
floor for the Atlantic OCS for
January 3, 2019. (b) Month aver
aged 125 Hz decidecade band
SPL (in dB), combined = wind and
ship SPL soundscape model at
the seafloor. (c) Wilmington (WIL)
measured SPL (blue dots) and
5th, 50th, and 95th percentile
modeled SPL for the first week
of January 2019, 125 Hz decide
cade SPL. (d) Blake Escarpment
(BLE) measured SPL (blue dots)
and modeled SPL with sedi
ment grain size parameter (PHI)
5.68 for the first week of January
2019, 125 Hz decidecade SPL.
The integer tick marks in (c) and
(d) are at midnight UTC. The time
axis starts at 00:00 on January 1,
2019. The reference sound pres
sure is 1 µPa.
Instantaneous Seafloor SPL
Mean Seafloor SPL
WIL 125 Hz
BLE 125 Hz PHI:5.68
Sound Pressure Level (dB/µPa2)
Decidecade SPL/dB