European Spatial-Temporal Large Scale Sea Noise Management & Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Marine Megafauna

EUROPAM is a research project that proposes comparative spatio-temporal acoustic survey of sea mammal biodiversity, and its management at a European scale. EUROPAM is based on innovative scientific instrumentation and algorithms, the Bombyx sonobuoys, to increase the knowledge of anthropogenic impacts on marine life, on a wide scale that allows comparison between locations and type of disturbances, and also between some population segments. It is composed of researchers from many different fields, making the project federative and multi-disciplinary. The ultimate objectives of real-time, high quality acoustic observations are the efficient management and the generation of long-term statistics. EUROPAM will: (1) develop comparative continuous passive acoustic monitoring in the Mediterranean Sea, the Azores and off-shore Norway; (2) compare marine soundscapes considering quiet marine protected areas vs. areas under strong human pressure; (3) describe marine soundscapes and their natural patterns and dynamics (daily and seasonal) and feed marine soundscape data into repositories; (4) develop protocols to calibrate measurements and provide comparable data across a large range of temporal and spatial scales; and (5) support whale-ship collision risk mitigation procedures. In the biotic soundscape we will quantify anthropogenic noise sources, identify and track marine mammals, while in the abiotic soundscape, the objective is to monitor acoustic features driven by local climate and meteorological events. EUROPAM will identify conservation areas and seasonality of species diversity, compare noisy with quiet areas, and measure noise level changes in relation to wind farm construction and to new offshore industrial activities. The project will monitor sea regions which are expected to be highly impacted by climate change, by industrial development and by increasing marine traffic. it will participate in novel whale-ship anti-collision mitigation in high trafficked areas.

EUROPAM is a research project that proposes comparative spatio-temporal acoustic survey of megafauna biodiversity, and its management at a European scale. EUROPAM is based on innovative scientific instrumentation and algorithms, the Bombyx sonobuoys, to increase the knowledge of anthropogenic impacts on marine life, on a wide scale that allows comparison between locations and type of disturbances, and also between some population segments. It is composed of researchers from many different fields, making the project federative and multi-disciplinary. The ultimate objectives of real-time, high quality acoustic observations are the efficient management and the generation of long-term statistics. EUROPAM will: (1) develop comparative continuous passive acoustic monitoring in the Mediterranean Sea, the Azores and off-shore Norway; (2) compare marine soundscapes considering quiet marine protected areas vs. areas under strong human pressure; (3) describe marine soundscapes and their natural patterns and dynamics (daily and seasonal) and feed marine soundscape data into repositories; (4) develop protocols to calibrate measurements and provide comparable data across a large range of temporal and spatial scales; and (5) support whale-ship collision risk mitigation procedures. In the biotic soundscape we will quantify anthropogenic noise sources, identify and track marine mammals, while in the abiotic soundscape, the objective is to monitor acoustic features driven by local climate and meteorological events. EUROPAM will identify conservation areas and seasonality of species diversity, compare noisy with quiet areas, and measure noise level changes in relation to wind farm construction and to new offshore industrial activities. The project will monitor sea regions which are expected to be highly impacted by climate change, by industrial development and by increasing marine traffic. it will participate in novel whale-ship anti-collision mitigation in high trafficked areas.