Global and regional soundscape modeling for ships and wind

There has been a growing understanding of the importance of the ocean soundscape on marine ecosystem health. With sound traveling to great distances in the open ocean, particularly at lower frequencies (below 200 Hz) ships that are a great distance away can impact the local sound levels. There is a need to be able to understand the relative portion of the measured sound levels which can be attributed to anthropogenic sources (ships, seismic survey vessels, navy sources, pile driving) and to natural sound sources (wind and waves, marine mammals, earthquakes, ice). Modeling approaches provide the opportunity to evaluate the excess noise for a given region (anthropogenic sound levels above the natural or ambient levels). A set of results are presented where the shipping and wind levels are computed for a single measurement position, a regional scale (Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, the Arctic) and for the entire world’s oceans. Modeling results for the increase in shipping noise levels in the Arctic Ocean due to reduced ice extent and a longer summer transit season are presented, as well as for the reduction on global sound levels due to the initial onset of COVID-19.