Marine mammal acoustic detections in the northeastern Chukchi Sea, September 2007–July 2011

Hannay, D.E., J. Delarue, X. Mouy, B.S. Martin, D. Leary, J.N. Oswald, and J. Vallarta

Continental Shelf Research 67: 127-146 (2013)

DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2013.07.009

Several cetacean and pinniped species use the northeastern Chukchi Sea as seasonal or year-round habitat. This area has experienced pronounced reduction in the extent of summer sea ice over the last decade, as well as increased anthropogenic activity, particularly in the form of oil and gas exploration. The effects of these changes on marine mammal species are presently unknown. Autonomous passive acoustic recorders were deployed over a wide area of the northeastern Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska from Cape Lisburne to Barrow, at distances from 8 km to 200 km from shore: up to 44 each summer and up to 8 each winter. Acoustic data were acquired at 16 kHz continuously during summer and on a duty cycle of 40 or 48 min within each 4-h period during winter. Recordings were analyzed manually and using automated detection and classification systems to identify calls.