The soundscape of a changing ecosystem: The Gulf of Maine

The Gulf of Maine (GoM) is an important region in the Northeast U.S. It hosts critically endangered marine mammal species like the North Atlantic right whale, supports major fisheries such as lobster and haddock, and serves as a key waterway for commercial shipping through the Port of Boston. The GoM is also a rapidly changing ecosystem. Ocean warming has been particularly pronounced, with mean sea surface temperatures (SST) increasing by approximately 0.5°C per decade, making it one of the fastest-warming marine areas in the world. Marine heatwaves have become more frequent, and unusual phytoplankton blooms have been observed in recent years. The groundfishery management system has also seen significant changes over the past two decades, including shifts in the location and timing of closure areas and new fishing restrictions. In this study, we use passive acoustic recordings collected over the last decade across the GoM to investigate how these changes have impacted the soundscape. We analyzed 1-min hybrid millidecades (HMD) and marine mammal sound detections to examine how sound level metrics fluctuate over time and correlate with ecosystem parameters (e.g., water temperature, phytoplankton), vessel traffic, and weather patterns.