Individuals and Organizations | International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE)

Individuals and Organizations

The development of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE) has involved about one hundred scientists with expertise in acoustics, hearing of marine mammals and other organisms, engineers, industry representatives, naval personnel, and representatives of environmental non-profit organizations. The individuals directly involved in the development of IQOE are listed as authors of the Oceanography magazine article that first announced details of the IQOE planning and those listed in Appendix III of the IQOE Science Plan.

The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) were approached by Jesse Ausubel of the Sloan Foundation with the idea of an IQOE and funding to support an exploratory meeting and an open science conference. SCOR and POGO have devoted significant staff time to help the scientists who developed IQOE to plan and execute meetings, and to develop the IQOE Science Plan. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission hosted the IQOE Open Science Conference.

Status

IQOE is in its 9th year as a 10-year project and continues to implement of its Science Plan (available here). IQOE has successfully coordinated a variety of activities in ocean acoustics and bioacoustics through IQOE working groups on the use of acoustics to assess biodiversity, the importance of acoustic observations in the Arctic Ocean, standards for reporting ocean acoustic and bioacoustic data for IQOE, software for making acoustic observations comparable worldwide, and recommendations for implementation of an Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable for the Global Ocean Observing System. IQOE progress has been documented since June 2018 through IQOE Newsletters and since the beginning of the project through other products. IQOE identified 2020 as the Year of the Quiet Ocean because of evidence that ocean sound decreased because of decreases in human activities in the ocean due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next Steps

Activities in 2024 will include actions to help implement the Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable Implementation Plan; continuation of new activities on low-cost ocean acoustic observing systems and expansion of the Open Portal to Underwater Sound (OPUS), implementation of the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds, sponsorship of the second World Ocean Passive Acoustic Monitoring Day; and meetings of IQOE working groups and Science Committee.