Temporal and spatial variation of a winter soundscape in south-central Alaska

Context Winter soundscapes are likely different from soundscapes in other seasons considering wildlife vocalizations (biophony) decrease, wind events (geophony) increase, and winter vehicle noise (technophony) occurs. The temporal variation and spatial relationships of soundscape components to the landscape in winter have not been quantified and described until now. Objectives Our objectives were to determine the temporal and spatial variation and acoustic-environmental relationships of a winter soundscape in south-central Alaska. Methods We recorded ambient sounds at 62 locations throughout Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (December 2011-April 2012). We calculated the normalized power spectral density in 59,597 recordings and used machine learning to determine acoustic-environmental relationships and produce spatial models of soundscape components. Results Geophony was the most prevalent component (84 %) followed by technophony (15 %), and biophony (1 %). Geophony occurred primarily at night, varied little by month, and was strongly associated with lakes. Technophony and biophony had similar temporal variation, peaking in April. Technophony occurred closer to urban areas and at locations with high snowmobile activity. Biophony occurred closer to rivers and was inversely related to snowmobile activity. Over 75 % of sample sites had > 1 recordings of airplane or snowmobile noise, mainly in remote areas. Conclusions The soundscape displayed distinct patterns across 24-h and monthly timeframes. These patterns were strongly associated with land cover variables which demonstrate discrete acoustic-environmental relationships exhibiting distinct spatial patterns in the landscape. Despite the predominance of geophony, the presence of technophony in this winter soundscape may have significant negative effects to wildlife and wilderness quality.