IQOE Progress | International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE)

IQOE Progress

Submitted by eurban on Mon, 06/12/2023 - 19:15

First World Ocean Passive Acoustic Monitoring (WOPAM) Day

An outcome of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment was the first World Ocean Passive Acoustics Monitoring (WOPAM) Day, on 8 June 2023. IQOE leaders, particularly Miles Parsons and Steve Simpson, prepared two very cool 90-second videos to initiate WOPAM Day.

Downloadable at this site. 150 MB each, but they download quickly.

15 May 2023

Guardian newspaper feature on International Quiet Ocean Experiment

Science and environment reporter Alice Hutton wrote a lively and informative article for the UK Guardian newspaper about the IQOE:

Listen to a toadfish’s grunt! AI helps decode a ‘symphony’ of ocean sounds

1 May 2023

News from the International Quiet Ocean Experiment

Terry Collins artfully summarized progress in this news release about the International Quiet Ocean Experiment. The news was picked up by

Agencia EFE: Artificial intelligence listens to the habits of marine life (in Spanish)

Independent (London): Scientists eavesdrop on underwater creatures to gain insights on ocean life

Earth.Com: Monitoring ocean life through underwater soundscapes

Portal R7 (Brazil): Biólogos marinhos captam zumbido não identificado que pode ser uma nova espécie de peixe Marine biologists capture unidentified tinnitus that can be a new species of fish (in Portuguese)

Vice/Motherboard: Scientists Recording Ocean Sounds Picked Up a Mysterious ‘Buzz’ They Can’t Identify

ORF Online (Austria): Unterwassermikrofone belauschen Fische Underwater microphones eavesdrop on fish (in German)

Scientias (Netherlands): Moet je horen! Vissen maken fascinerende balts- en eetgeluiden, vooral bij volle maan You have to hear! Fish make fascinating balts and eating noises, especially at full moon (in Dutch)

23 April 2023

Interim Evaluation of International Quiet Ocean Experiment

Interim Program Self-Evaluation of the IQOE for the International Scientific Steering Committee meeting 26-27 April 2023.

Status

IQOE is in its 9th year as a 10-year project and continues to implement of its Science Plan (available here). IQOE has successfully coordinated a variety of activities in ocean acoustics and bioacoustics through IQOE working groups on the use of acoustics to assess biodiversity, the importance of acoustic observations in the Arctic Ocean, standards for reporting ocean acoustic and bioacoustic data for IQOE, software for making acoustic observations comparable worldwide, and recommendations for implementation of an Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable for the Global Ocean Observing System. IQOE progress has been documented since June 2018 through IQOE Newsletters and since the beginning of the project through other products. IQOE identified 2020 as the Year of the Quiet Ocean because of evidence that ocean sound decreased because of decreases in human activities in the ocean due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next Steps

Activities in 2024 will include actions to help implement the Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable Implementation Plan; continuation of new activities on low-cost ocean acoustic observing systems and expansion of the Open Portal to Underwater Sound (OPUS), implementation of the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds, sponsorship of the second World Ocean Passive Acoustic Monitoring Day; and meetings of IQOE working groups and Science Committee.