Reports and Articles | International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE)

European Marine Strategy Framework Directive Good Environmental Status (MSFD-GES). Report of the Technical Subgroup on Underwater Noise and other forms of energy. Final Report (2012)

UNEP Scientific Synthesis on the Impacts of Underwater Noise on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity and Habitats (2012)

The effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals (2008)

Potential Application of Vessel-Quieting Technology on Large Commercial Vessels (2007)

Audio and Video

How human noise affects ocean habitats (audio and video) - TED Talk by Kate Stafford, filmed Nov. 2016

Oregon Scientists Eavesdrop On Ocean's Deepest Deep - Air Date: March 2, 2016

Sounds of the Sea (audio) - Air Date: Week of March 28, 2014

The Voice of the Natural World (audio and video) - TED Talk by Bernie Krause, Filmed June 2013

The Noisy Ocean and Its Consequences (audio) - Air Date: Week of August 19, 2011

The Intriguing Sound of Marine Mammals (audio and video) - TED Talk by Peter Tyack, filmed April 2010

PowerPoint Presentations

Using Ambient Noise to Study the Ocean - Presentation by Bill Kuperman at symposium on 70 Years of World Ocean Research on 12-13 September 2016

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.