Climatic and economic fluctuations revealed by decadal ocean soundscapes

Decadal variations of ocean soundscapes are intricately linked to large-scale climatic and economic fluctuations. This study draws on over 15 years of acoustic recordings at six sites within the Southern California Bight, investigating interannual, seasonal, and diel variations. By examining acoustic energy from fin and blue whales and ambient sound from ships and wind, we identified changes in the soundscape over time and space. This study reveals that sound levels associated with both biological and non-biological sound sources varied seasonally and correlated with large-scale climatic patterns and long-term oceanographic fluctuations. Baleen whale sound levels before, during, and after a marine heatwave were assessed; sound levels decreased in southern sites and increased in northern sites adjacent to the California Current, underscoring the potential for range shifts and habitat compression during warm years for these species. Ship-generated sound levels at high-traffic sites reflec..., , , # **Climatic and economic fluctuations revealed by decadal ocean soundscapes**

Vanessa M. ZoBell, Natalie Posdaljian, Kieran L. Lenssen, Sean M. Wiggins, John A. Hildebrand, Simone Baumann-Pickering, Kaitlin E. Frasier

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.nzs7h450t](10.5061/dryad.nzs7h450t)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset supports the study of long-term changes in biological and non-biological sound levels in the Southern California Bight. The data includes daily median sound levels associated with fin whales, blue whales, ships, and wind are included at 6 study sites. The unit of sound pressure level (SPL) is dB re 1 *μ*Pa2.

### Files and variables

#### File: siteN.csv

**Description:** Daily median sound pressure levels for fin whales, blue whales, ship noise, and wind at Site N. Nominal site location and depth can be found within the manuscript (Table 1). NaN values in...,