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ADEON project wins 2023 NOPP Excellence in Partnering Award

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The Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network (ADEON) project received the 2023 National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) Excellence in Partnering Award.

The award was presented at the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The NOPP Excellence in Partnering Award is given annually to recognize superior collaborative efforts among partners in coordinating an exemplary NOPP project.

The Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network (ADEON) measured the natural and human factors that describe the ecology and soundscape of the Mid-South-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from Nov 2017 – Dec 2020. The ecosystem components measured were, human generated sound levels and the presence of marine mammals using directional passive acoustics, the fish and zooplankton biomass and community structure using a scientific echosounder, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and the passage of tagged fish and sharks. These types of long-term observations of living marine resources and marine sound will assist Federal agencies, including the NOPP sponsors BOEM, ONR, and NOAA, in complying with mandates in the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA).

Achievements:

  • Development of standardized metrics for reporting passive acoustic data which have been adopted by other national and international acoustic programs which has made passive acoustic data more accessible and comparable.

  • Provides baseline measurements informing ecosystem-based management and a mechanistic understanding of cumulative impacts on marine resources.

  • Development of visualization tools to explore ADEON data supports future data use beyond project completion.

  • Provided a standard for and demonstrated advancements in soundscape modelling.

  • Developed Artist at Sea program.

 

Project Team:

The ADEON team was led by Dr. Jennifer Miksis-Olds at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Bruce Martin of JASCO led the network design and passive acoustic data analysis. Dr. Michael Ainslie of JASCO led the development of the ADEON standards. Dr. Kevin Heaney of Applied Ocean Sciences led the project’s data analysis and soundscape modelling. Dr. Joe Warren of Stonybrook University led the active acoustic data collection and analysis. Dr. Elliot Hazen of NOAA and UCSC led the ecosystem modelling component of ADEON. Dr. Anthony Lyons of UNH coordinated data delivery and reporting and worked with Dr. Tom Butkiewicz at UNH to visualize the data. Project Manager was John Macri of UNH. The Data Manager was Teresa Ridgeway of UNH.

JASCO ADEON Team:

Many JASCO team members contributed to the ADEON project. The primary data collection platform was the Autonomous Long-term Observatory (ALTO) Lander developed and continuously improved by the company’s mechanical engineering and field service teams. JASCO’s software and science teams have used the ALTO data to enhance their industry leading directional analysis capabilities, and the field and data analysis teams supported the project throughout its 5-year duration. ADEON was one of the first projects to use JASCO’s AMAR G4 (Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorder- Generation 4) and the first to use it for full year deployments. JASCO continues to work with the University of New Hampshire on numerous projects to further understand the soundscape of Gulf of Maine and in the United States East Coast wind development areas.

Further information on ADEON, including the ADEON standards and data, can be found at: Home Page | Adeon (unh.edu).

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