UC San Diego

Over 500 000 automated and manual acoustic localizations, measured over seven years between 2008 and 2014,

were used to examine how natural wind-driven noise and anthropogenic seismic airgun survey noise influence bowhead

whale call densities (calls/km2/min) and source levels during their fall migration in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea.

Noise masking effects, which confound measurements of behavioral changes, were removed using a modified point

transect theory. The authors found that mean call densities generally rose with increasing continuous wind-driven

noise levels. The occurrence of weak airgun pulse sounds also prompted an increase in call density equivalent to a

10–15 dB change in natural noise level, but call density then dropped substantially with increasing cumulative sound

exposure level (cSEL) from received airgun pulses. At low in-band noise levels the mean source level of the

acoustically-active population changed to nearly perfectly compensate for noise increases, but as noise levels

increased further the mean source level failed to keep pace, reducing the population’s communication space. An

increase of >40 dB cSEL from seismic airgun activity led to an increase in source levels of just a few decibels.

These results

Over 500 000 automated and manual acoustic localizations, measured over seven years between 2008 and 2014,

were used to examine how natural wind-driven noise and anthropogenic seismic airgun survey noise influence bowhead

whale call densities (calls/km2/min) and source levels during their fall migration in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea.

Noise masking effects, which confound measurements of behavioral changes, were removed using a modified point

transect theory. The authors found that mean call densities generally rose with increasing continuous wind-driven

noise levels. The occurrence of weak airgun pulse sounds also prompted an increase in call density equivalent to a

10–15 dB change in natural noise level, but call density then dropped substantially with increasing cumulative sound

exposure level (cSEL) from received airgun pulses. At low in-band noise levels the mean source level of the

acoustically-active population changed to nearly perfectly compensate for noise increases, but as noise levels

increased further the mean source level failed to keep pace, reducing the population’s communication space. An

increase of >40 dB cSEL from seismic airgun activity led to an increase in source levels of just a few decibels.

These results have implications for bowhead acoustic density estimation, and evaluations of the masking impacts of

danthropogenic noise

have implications for bowhead acoustic density estimation, and evaluations of the masking impacts of

anthropogenic noise