Monitoring Deep-Sea Soundscape off the TROPIC Seamount Using a Glider

The deep-sea hosts unique ecosystems that could be threatened by emerging human activities. Within the European TRIDENT initiative, which aims to monitor environmental impacts of deep-sea exploration and exploitation, this study investigates the underwater soundscape of the TROPIC Seamount (TS), a biodiversity hotspot and a site rich in minerals. During a 2024 scientific cruise, an ALSEAMAR SeaExplorer glider equipped with a hydrophone that collected acoustic data along a route around TS. A method was developed to estimate ambient sound, accounting for glider self-noise and flow noise. Power spectral density (PSD) and spectral probability density (SPD) were calculated, and model validation was performed using mean square error, Kullback-Leibler, and Jensen-Shannon divergence. Results show high-quality PSD series after self-noise removal and a clear correlation with wind speed. Flow-noise distributions are consistent with previous findings, helping analysis of recorded field at low frequencies. This work supports TRIDENT's goals and highlights the use of gliders for deep-sea acoustic monitoring.