Soundscape of Freshwater Lakes
A major issue is the effect of sound from human activity on aquatic life. The soundscape of any given environment is formed of geological, biological and man-made sounds. However, to date very little is known about the underwater soundscape of freshwater environments, especially between seasons. This project proposes to investigate the soundscape of a small inland lake and identify geological (weather), biological (fish) and man-made (boat) sounds. An underwater microphone (hydrophone) was deployed in Barrs Lake (Lat/Lon: 47.058312, -91.966274) from May 2018 – November 2019 recording continuously. This data was analyzed by looking at sound files from December, March, and July to compare different anthropogenic sounds seasonally.It was found that through boats, augers, fishing, and walking on ice that humans have more effects on freshwater lakes in Duluth than previously thought.