PAM2PY: a Python tool for sharing ocean soundscape data

Abstract

Ocean noise is an important component of the ocean soundscape. Due to the ocean vastness, performing an accurate monitoring is challenging and requires cooperation between institutions which, in most cases, use different equipment with different characteristics. To ensure a valid comparison between sound pressure level (SPL) outputs, careful calibration to a common standard is an absolute requirement. Throughout the years several tools were developed with that purpose as for example PAMGuide that: 1) allows an adequate data calibration and 2) provides a standard for ocean noise SPL estimation. PAM2PY emerged from the idea that effective acoustic data sharing could only succeed if: 1) data details were private, 2) context information and acoustic data were packed together and 3) transformation from raw data was standard and supported by open source code running in open platforms. This paper describes PAM2PY utilization in a typical exchange data request that permitted to share raw acoustic data from three hydrophones located near Faial and Pico islands in the Azores recorded during the month of June 2018. Data is calibrated, SPL calculated, packed together with shipping noise predictions and relevant context information (metadata) using the Exchange Data Format in standard H5 files.