Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Abstract

As Arctic warming accelerates, the underwater acoustic environment in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly changing. We present the first results of passive acoustic monitoring in the marginal ice zone of the East Siberian Sea (ESS). A high sea ice concentration (SIC) and seasonal variations in ice cover make the ESS an ideal region to verify how ambient sound levels respond to natural physical processes and anthropogenic activities during summer. Our observations show that the sound level in the ESS exhibits a strong negative correlation with SIC, and the sound level in September, which was higher than that in other months, was 16 dB higher than the annual average. This increase resulted from geophony and anthrophony with the reduction in the SIC, and sound level increased by 13 dB without anthrophony. Our results indicate that ambient sound level in the Arctic Ocean may increase as climate change accelerates sea ice melting.