To understand underwater noise and biodiversity throughout the Gulf of America, we operationalized a distributed acoustic sensing system building on an initial decadal passive acoustic timeseries. The ocean-based sensing system, spanning five sites from 2010-2025 and eight additional sites from 2020-2025, enables continuous monitoring of ocean soundscapes critical to understanding biodiversity impacts and supporting marine resource management.

Through iterative analysis and integration of complementary data streams, including Automatic Identification System data, Protected Species Observer reports, and seismic survey permit information, we identified commercial shipping and seismic airgun activity from geophysical surveys as the dominant driver of low-frequency noise across the Gulf. Airgun signals in particular propagate hundreds of kilometers from their source, contributing to some of the highest low-frequency ambient sound levels recorded in U.S. waters (up to 97 dB re 1 μPa²/Hz at 40 Hz), exceeding levels observed off California and the U.S. East Coast. These elevated amplitudes overlap with communication frequencies used by marine species, underscoring conservation and management implications.

Building on these findings, we are advancing partnerships to include both shipping and seismic airgun activity to characterize Gulf-wide acoustic patterns and quantify basin-scale noise contributions at unprecedented resolution. Our next phase focuses on evaluating the acoustic scale of different technologies, survey modalities, and operational practices to inform predictive sound models and noise-reduction strategies. Collectively, these efforts aim to support a realistic pathway for transforming long-term remote sensing data into actionable intelligence for agency operations to reduce noise impacts on vulnerable Gulf species.