How to use this website

Explore underwater sounds of marine wildlife, ships, and the environment by clicking buttons on the main page. This will open up a sound window with a player, image of the sounds, and information about the recording.

Click the play button to hear the sound. Choose from different sounds at the top of each player window.

About the sound player window

In each sound player window, there is a play button, an image of the sound called a spectrogram, a map of recording location, and information about the recording.

• Click the play button to hear the sound.
• Click anywhere on the bar to the right of the play button to listen to different times in the recording.
• Additional sounds are available as tabs along the top of the player window.

There are two types of sound player windows.

1. Sounds that play in regular time (e.g. one minute of play was one minute underwater)

2. Sounds that play many samples across a longer time period (one minute of play was one hour underwater)

Where and when were these sound recordings made?

Recordings of underwater sound have been made in the fiords of Pond Inlet and at the eastern entrance to Eclipse Sound during all months of the year from 2016 to 2021

How were these sound recordings made?

Recordings were made using an underwater sound recording device anchored to the seafloor. The recorder is designed to be silent and to listen to sounds only.

At the request of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization, metal hardware has been replaced with soft connections to prevent unintentional underwater noise.

Sounds are recorded 24 hours per day all year.

About the research project

Sounds of marine mammals, ships, and the underwater environment were recorded by UCSD and Oceans North with guidance and permission from the MHTO. It’s a research project to study effects of underwater noise from ships on marine wildlife in the waters of the Pond Inlet region of north Baffin Island.

The study is accomplished by recording underwater sounds year-round to measure the natural levels of sound and noise from ships and to observe marine mammals through the sounds they make.

Who is conducting this research?

Research is done by University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD) in collaboration with Oceans North and under the guidance of Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization.

Research project priorities

• What are natural sound levels through the seasons when ships are not nearby?
• How do ships change the underwater sound environment?
• When can different marine mammal species be heard underwater in the Pond Inlet region?
• What types of sounds do marine mammals make underwater?
• Do marine mammals, like narwhals, change their sounds in response to noise from ships?

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization for critical guidance, review of research priorities, and for annual permission to carry out the underwater sound recording in the Pond Inlet region.

We thank Alex Ootoowak for extensive technical, logistical, at-sea, and scientific support, along with his direction of many aspects of this research program.

Substantial additional support has been provided by Dr. Evan Richardson of Environment and Climate Change Canada, making available the Pond Inlet Research Facility for lodging and laboratory space.

Financial support for the program has been provided by UCSD and by Oceans North.