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Passive acoustic data collection has grown exponentially over the past decade resulting in petabytes of data that document our ocean soundscapes. This effort has resulted in two big data challenges: (1) the curation, management, and global dissemination of passive acoustic datasets and (2) efficiently extracting critical information and comparing it to other datasets in the context of ecosystem-based research and management. To address the former, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information recently established an archive for passive acoustic data. This fast-growing archive currently contains over 100 TB of passive acoustic audio files mainly collected from stationary recorders throughout waters in the United States. These datasets are documented with standards-based metadata and are freely available to the public. To begin to address the latter, through standardized processing and centralized stewardship and access, we provide a previously unattainable comparison of first order sound level-patterns from archived data collected across three distinctly separate long-term passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) efforts conducted at regional and national scales: NOAA/National Park Service Ocean Noise Reference Station Network, the Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network, and the Sanctuary Soundscape Monitoring Project. Nine sites were selected from these projects covering the Alaskan Arctic, Northeast and Central Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Mid and Northwest Atlantic. Sites could generally be categorized into those strongly influenced by anthropogenic noise (e.g., vessel traffic) and those that were not. Higher sound levels, specifically for lower frequencies (

Passive acoustic data collection has grown exponentially over the past decade resulting in petabytes of data that document our ocean soundscapes. This effort has resulted in two big data challenges: the curation, management, and global dissemination of passive acoustic datasets and efficiently extracting critical information and comparing it to other datasets in the context of ecosystem-based research and management. To address the former, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information established a passive acoustic data archive, which contains over 100 TB of audio files mainly collected from stationary recorders throughout waters in the U.S. These datasets are documented with standards-based metadata and are freely available to the public. To begin to address the latter, through standardized processing and centralized stewardship and access, we will present a previously unattainable comparison of first order sound level-patterns from archived data collected across three distinctly separate long-term passive acoustic monitoring efforts conducted at regional and national scales: NOAA/National Park Service Ocean Noise Reference Station Network, the NOPP-funded Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network, and the NOAA-Navy Sanctuary Soundscape Monitoring Project. Further, we will propose the next frontier for scalable data stewardship, access, and processing flow to help the community collaboratively move forward.

The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) is the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Association (RA) responsible for coordinating statewide monitoring for Alaska's nearly 44,000 miles of coastline and offshore environments. The Alaska coastline is larger than that of any other RA territory as well as the combined seaboard of the United States (US). It is also the only US regional observing system that includes a polar observing component in the Arctic. The effects of climate change in Alaska are already evidenced by the steady decline of Arctic summer sea ice extent and concentration, increased wildfires, thawing permafrost, increasing ocean acidification (OA) and recognizable ecosystem shifts. Other concerns include increased marine traffic, especially through the Bering Strait and across the Arctic Ocean region, ongoing industrial activities, escalating coastal erosion and inundation affecting many coastal subsistence communities, and physical and biological ramifications from the rapid and dramatic retreat of sea ice over the past 30 years. Addressing these changes including mitigation, adaptation and management of resources (e.g., fisheries) requires sustainable, reliable and accessible marine information from both ambient monitoring activities and process oriented research projects. The AOOS conceptual build out plan for the Alaskan Arctic prioritizes core monitoring platforms and activities for safe marine operations, improved storm and hazard response, and integrated data products for ecosystem assessments and climate trends. In this paper, we summarize how AOOS approaches this mission, and discuss actions currently underway in the Arctic, including the ongoing development of the Arctic Data Integration Portal.