Underwater Acoustic Measurements in Davis Strait: A Joint US-Greenland Collaboration to Integrate Ambient Noise Data with Physical Oceanography and Marine Mammal Occurrence

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The occurrence, distribution and numbers of large whales offshore West Greenland are of interest to Greenland and the international community, however a means to observe these animals year-round is lacking. This project will deploy passive acoustic monitoring devices on oceanographic moorings in the Davis Strait. The sound recordings will provide novel, year-round information on the vocal behavior and seasonal occurrence of at least five cetacean species including narwhal, bowhead, fin, minke, and humpback whales. This project supports collaboration between U.S. researchers at the University of Washington and researchers at the Greenland Institute for Natural Resources to study the Davis Strait. Year-round acoustic data from the Davis Strait region will provide a measure of the seasonal presence of vocal large whales, including both protected species (humpback and bowhead whales) and those harvested by Greenland hunters (fin and minke whales). This information is unavailable otherwise due to seasonal ice cover in the region that precludes other means of studying these species. Additionally, the co-location of hydrophones with instruments that measure oceanographic variables such as currents, sea surface temperature and ice cover will permit the exploration of covariance of these data with whale call occurrence. Scientists at GINR will be trained in the methodology for analyzing acoustic data. This collaboration will help build Greenland's capacity to monitor and study protected and harvested marine mammals and it will provide unprecedented data to researchers in both countries about marine mammals in these ice-covered waters.