SOFAR: A New Sound-Acquisition Software Package for Underwater Noise Monitoring

When monitoring underwater noise, the recording of in situ environmental parameters is a vital supplement to the recording of ambient noise or offshore anthropogenic activities. Although there are some software packages available that have the capability of recording sound at different sample rates using a variety of tools, the set-up configuration and all important environmental conditions recording still rely on the operator. SOFAR, a new sound-acquisition software package, was designed and created to provide an intuitive and streamlined process of recording data along with all the necessary metrics that play a vital role in the data analysis and assessment.