Modelling the global soundscape: Validating a study of the COVID-19 impact using in-shore and off-shore observatory data

This study presents a data-model comparison of the soundscape in the Northeast Pacific Ocean in 2019 and 2020. Focussing on frequencies below 400 Hz, where the soundscape is dominated by shipping, marine mammals (at selected frequencies) and large storms, a parabolic-equation model computes the propagation loss from a grid of points to a four-dimensional, high-resolution grid of receivers. The modelling data are extracted from a dynamic model of the global shipping and wind noise soundscape that utilizes AIS ship-tracking data. A comparison of the modelling results between 2019 and 2020 revealed a marked difference, reasonably due to the COVID-19 global shutdown. These results are compared to measurements from the long-term time series collected by Ocean Networks Canada’s in-shore and off-shore cabled observatories in the Salish Sea and Northeast Pacific Ocean.