Marine Bioacoustics: Back to the Future

• Main Author: Greene, Charles H
• Other Authors: KOHALA CENTER KAMUELA HI
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Biology; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Acoustics; *ACOUSTIC TRACKING; *AQUATIC ANIMALS; *BIOACOUSTICS; *DISTRIBUTION; *IN SITU ANALYSIS; *UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS; *WHALES; *ZOOPLANKTON; ACOUSTIC DATA; BRITISH COLUMBIA; COURSES(EDUCATION); FIELD TESTS; FISHES; HAWAII; HYDROPHONES; LABORATORY TESTS; SONAR ECHOES; STUDENTS; TRAINING; WORKSHOPS; *MARINE BIOACOUSTICS; *BIOACOUSTIC OCEANOGRAPHY; WAVE GLIDERS; ZOOPLANKTON DISTRIBUTIONS; SAANICH INLET; BC FISHERIES ACOUSTICS CRUISE; MARINE PREDATOR-PREY STUDIES; SAN JUAN ISLAND; ORCA TRACKING; ORCA LOCALIZATION; EUPHAUSIIDS; KRILL; MULTI-FREQUENCY ECHO SOUNDERS; HUMPBACK WHALES; British Columbia; Canada; San Juan; Orca
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA600370; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA600370

The overall goal of this project has been to provide advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral investigators with a broad understanding of ocean acoustics as well as the techniques used to study the ecology of marine animals in situ. A secondary goal of the project is to provide a setting for developing and testing new technologies. In this manner, it serves as a research magnet, attracting leading scientists to conduct their own research in a creative teaching and learning environment that catalyzes interactions across the various disciplines associated with Bioacoustical Oceanography. The specific objective of this research is to provide students with a broad understanding of the acoustic techniques used to study the distribution and behavior of marine animals in the context of their physical/chemical/biological environment. Highlighted activities conducted over the 5 years of our grant include the following: (1) three zooplankton acoustics cruises to Saanich Inlet, BC, Canada, to demonstrate how the forward problem can be used to groundtruth acoustic data, and how survey data can be interpolated to generate 3-D assessments of zooplankton distributions; (2) experimental study in Saanich Inlet to test the hypothesis that strobe lights on a MOCNESS sampling system reduces or eliminates net avoidance by euphausiids; (3) field trials along the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island to test a new, multi-frequency echo sounder developed for use with Wave Gliders; (4) a fisheries acoustics cruise to demonstrate the methods used for conducting marine predator-prey studies using acoustics to define prey fields; (5) a passive acoustics exercise at Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island to calibrate its hydrophone array and evaluate its performance in localizing and tracking orcas; and; (6) a passive acoustics exercise along the Kohala Coast in which three Wave Gliders were deployed with hydrophones to localize and track vocalizing humpback whales.