Dataset: Sound pressure levels from hydrophone recordings at six sites in the Galapagos Islands from September 2020 through August 2022 to examine soundscapes during the Anthropause and beyond

Sampling and analytical procedures:

Approximately 1900 hours of underwater sound was sampled by SoundTrap 300 hydrophones during the study period from September 2020 through August 2022. The hydrophones were set to record at 98 hertz (hz) to record continuously over the duration of the deployment to capture acoustic signals in the soundscape including biological (fish, snapping shrimp, sea lions, etc.) and anthropogenic (divers, boat noise) sound.   

A standard procedure was followed to deploy hydrophones at 3 sites of high (Champion, Gordon, Seymour) and low (Gardner, Baltra, Daphne Menor) diver disturbance during the “Anthropause” when tourism was substantially reduced in 2020 due to the COVID quarantine.  Hydrophone were deployed again at the same locations in 2021 and 2022 as tourism increased. At each of the six sites, a single hydrophone was mounted on a stainless steel stand so that it was positioned vertically about 1.5 meters about the rocky bottom (~10-15 m depth). This was done by scuba diving from a small (14 m long) sport fishing type boat (MV Valeska out of Puerto Ayora). The acoustic recordings were made simultaneously at two sites for 2 to 8 days and the procedure was repeated so all 6 sites were sampled. 

The 2020 data can serve as a baseline of the total amounts of biological and anthropogenic noise in the Galapagos during the Anthropause, and can be compared to 2021 and 2022 data after the COVID 19 quarantine ended and activities resumed.  Biological soundscape differences between day and night can also be analyzed using the local time (Galapagos Island Time of UTC minus 6 hours).