Marine Bioacoustics 10 & 11
The Ocean Sound Observatory & Species Voice Graph
Grounded in NOAA's Passive Acoustic Archive preserving biological, physical, and human-made ocean sounds across Monterey Bay and Stellwagen Bank. Inspect whale songs, infrasonic blue whale pulses, dolphin echolocation, and low-frequency vessel cavitation noise.
Deep Sea AcousticsNOAA Passive Acoustic Archive (NCEI)
The Ocean Sound Observatory
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California // Platform: MARS Cabled Observatory Hydrophone (MBARI / NOAA)
Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Taxonomy: Cetacea / Mysticeti / Balaenopteridae · Depth: 890m
Source Level: 185 dB re 1 µPa @ 1m
Frequency Range
30 Hz – 4,000 Hz (with harmonics extending past 10 kHz)
Peak Frequency
450 Hz
Seasonality
Late Autumn through Early Spring
Bioacoustic Function & Vibrational Signaling:
Complex hierarchically structured breeding songs composed of themes, phrases, and discrete sound units (groans, moans, chirps, up-sweeps) that evolve progressively across populations.
Anthropogenic Acoustic Masking Impact
Commercial cargo ship engine noise overlaps directly with 100–500 Hz song fundamentals, forcing whales to increase vocal source levels (the underwater Lombard Effect).