Websites and Projects | International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE)

Aquatic Acoustic Archive: This Web site includes a searchable database for publications on sound in the ocean, metadata for underwater acoustic data, and links to software and hardware tools. The development of this site was partially funded by IQOE.

Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS): This site is an excellent resource for the public about sound in the ocean and how marine animals use and are affected by sound in the ocean.

ECO Magazine

EcoSono

HELCOM Underwater Noise

iMARL: Deep Ocean Listening

INTAROS

ISO Technical Committee 43/Subcommittee 3 on Underwater Acoustics: The group is working on behalf of the International Standards Organization to develop international standards related to sound from ships and pile driving, and on acoustic terminology.

Joint Industry Program E&P Sound & Marine Life Programme

Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment (LIDO)

NOAA Cetacean and Sound Mapping Project: This site documents the work of a project of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate the impacts of human-generated noise on cetaceans. Two subgroups–one to map ocean soundscapes and the other to map the density and distribution of cetaceans–were set up to conduct the project.

NOAA Ocean Noise Reference Station Network

NOAA PMEL Acoustics Program

OSPAR Commission: Noise

U.S. Office of Naval Research Marine Mammals and Biology Program

Status

IQOE's term as a decadal project was completed on 31 December 2025. Since 2015, IQOE implemented its Science Plan (available here) developed from an open science meeting in 2012. IQOE 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

Although IQOE has completed its term, several activities begun by IQOE will continue to work independently or under a new structure. The IQOE Science Committee set up a committee to convene an open workshop to plan the next steps for continuing IQOE activities and for implementation of the Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable (EOV). The workshop will be held on 22-24 September 2026 at the Flanders Marine Institute in Oostende, Belgium. More details about the workshop will be forthcoming in the near future.