Angela Szesciorka, PhD

Disproportionate warming and rapid, extreme reductions in Arctic sea ice extent, age, and thickness are driving cascading effects in Arctic ecosystems from physical oceanography to marine predators reliant on a stable, ice-based ecosystem. But the Arctic is not homogenous, and changes are evidenced in different ways in different regions. Therefore pan-Arctic monitoring is imperative. The Arctic Acoustic Observing Network formed in 2025 to understand seasonal noise levels and how they are changing and to describe and document human use of the Arctic and changes in biodiversity, presence, and migratory patterns of endemic Arctic and subarctic species. We are currently analyzing semi-pan Arctic bearded seal distributions and soundscapes in areas with and without vessel traffic. We are also developing a library of detectors and datasets that will be used to analyze large, long-term acoustic datasets. Read our recent whitepaper: "From Concept to Collaboration: The Arctic Acoustic Observing Network"

Reductions in sea ice and a longer “open water” season have increased vessel traffic through the Bering Strait and expanded transit opportunities in the Northwest Passage and Northern and Transpolar Sea Routes. While only two percent of harvested bowhead whales have been documented with vessel strike scars, increased vessel traffic has the potential to increase vessel strikes, especially in the Bering Strait and southern Chukchi Sea, areas that overlap with bowhead whale core use areas. These are also areas where satellite tag and passive acoustic data suggest that some whales are spending winter instead of the northwestern Bering Sea. Additional questions remain about disturbance due to vessel noise and the general trends in vessel traffic in the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea. Knowledge of the trends in vessel traffic and potential overlap between with bowhead whale core use areas will be useful for understanding future risk to this population. Stay tuned for our paper in Frontiers in Marine Science.