EARS Buoy Applications by LADC: I. Marine Animal Acoustics

Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) scientists have investigated sperm and beaked whale clicks as recorded on Environmental Acoustic Recording System (EARS) buoys to analyze whale behavior and the possibility of identifying individual whales acoustically. The research began in 2001 and con...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ioup, George E., Ioup, Juliette W., Pflug, Lisa A., Tashmukhambetov, Arslan M., Sidorovskaia, Natalia A., Schexnayder, Philip, Tiemann, Christopher O., Bernstein, Alan, Kuczaj, Stan A., Rayborn, Grayson H.
Other Authors: SPACE AND NAVAL WARFARE SYSTEMS CENTER PACIFIC SAN DIEGO CA
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Biological Oceanography
Acoustics
*AQUATIC ANIMALS
*ACOUSTIC RECORDING SYSTEMS
IDENTIFICATION
CLUSTERING
MAPS
ANIMALS
BEHAVIOR
UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS
BUOYS
WHALES
SELF ORGANIZING SYSTEMS
MEXICO GULF
BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
LIGURIAN SEA
SYMPOSIA
VERIFICATION
LADC(LITTORAL ACOUSTIC DEMONSTRATION CENTER)
EARS(ENVIRONMENTAL ACOUSTIC RECORDING SYSTEM)
Sperm whale
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA527493
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA527493
Description
Summary:Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) scientists have investigated sperm and beaked whale clicks as recorded on Environmental Acoustic Recording System (EARS) buoys to analyze whale behavior and the possibility of identifying individual whales acoustically. The research began in 2001 and continues through the present. LADC has conducted three experiments in the northern Gulf of Mexico and participated with the Naval Undersea Research Centre with three experiments in the Ligurian Sea. Initially the research centered on sperm whale coda clicks and echolocation clicks. In 2007 it was extended to the study of beaked whale echolocation clicks. The measured data suggest that click properties can be used to identify individual whales. Initially the identifications were done by grouping clicks using self-organizing maps and other means of cluster analysis. Each cluster or class represents an individual whale. These methods have been refined and have become reasonably robust. Verification of the identification has been a problem since using visual observations has not been satisfactory. Presently localization of the clicking animals is being coupled with cluster analysis to verify the identifications. A new finding that rhythms of echolocation clicks can be used to identify sperm whale individuals is now a part of the research, and cluster analysis, rhythm analysis, and localization are mutually reinforcing the identifications. Other results using EARS buoys for marine animal acoustics are listed among the key findings of LADC acoustic research. See also ADM202806. Published in Proceedings of the Oceans 2009 MTS/IEEE Conference held in Biloxi, Mississippi on 26-29 October 2009. Copyright belongs to the Marine Technology Society., The original document contains color images.

Similar Items