IWC/58/WKM&AWI 24 Agenda item 5.2

• Main Author: Andrew Butterworth
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Norwegian Sea; Pacific; Beluga; Beluga*; Killer Whale; Weddel Sea; Killer whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.555.2402; http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/_documents/commission/IWC58docs/58-WKMAWI24.pdf

This paper describes thermography of the thermal energy carried in water droplets in the cetacean exhaled ‘blow ’ as a tool for which may add objective data on respiratory activity in cetacea. The core body temperature of many cetacea is around 37.5 °C ( 99.5 °F 310.5 °K). Sometimes the sea water in which whales live is very cold. In the Northern Pacific, the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and in the Southern Oceans in the South Atlantic and Weddel Sea, the main body of seawater can be at a temperature as low as –1 °C (30.2 °F, 272 °K) and this can provide the potential for a significant contrast between core body temperature and sea water temperature. At the core body temperature of a whale, thermal energy in the Infra Red part of the spectrum is emitted with a peak emittance at a wavelength at about 9.6µm. Using a thermographic camera sensitive in the infra red spectral band 7.5 – 13 µm we have explored the thermal energy emitted by the thermal emissions from the respiratory blow of cetacea at the Sea World facility in San Diego, USA. A Flir systems thermaCAMTM E4 camera was used to make thermal images of Beluga, killer whale and pilot whales and the images captured direct onto the hard disc of a laptop computer. Additionally, thermal recordings of the ocular temperature of three species of captive whale (killer, pilot and beluga) were made. The thermal contrast between the eye and the skin around the eye was analysed using an infra red thermometer. The temperature of the surface of the eye (TE) was recorded with a Raytek STTM remote sensing infra red thermometer. It is concluded that thermography may have the potential to; 1) Permit remote measurement of respiratory frequency in cetacea, particularly in very cold seas. 2) To add information to the decision as to whether a hunted animal is vital, or if it is dead – information which may be of value in the discussions on humane killing carried out by the IWC.