Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico
The endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is endemic to the Gulf of Mexico and is also the Gulf’s only resident baleen whale. Limited knowledge of this species’ ecology combined with the high industrialization of this region raises serious conservation concerns. As part of an ongoing project...
Published in: | The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0018597 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_26590 2023-10-09T21:50:09+02:00 Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico Tenorio, Ludovic (author) Gruden, Pina (author) Frouin-Mouy, Heloise (author) Debich, Amanda (author) Cook, Ashley (author) Garrison, Lance (author) Nosal, Eva-Marie (author) Soldevilla, Melissa (author) 2023-03-01 https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0018597 en eng The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America--0001-4966--1520-8524 articles:26590 doi:10.1121/10.0018597 ark:/85065/d7542smd Copyright 2023 AIP article Text 2023 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0018597 2023-09-18T18:18:08Z The endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is endemic to the Gulf of Mexico and is also the Gulf’s only resident baleen whale. Limited knowledge of this species’ ecology combined with the high industrialization of this region raises serious conservation concerns. As part of an ongoing project to study the Rice’s whale in its core habitat, an array of moored passive acoustic monitoring sites has been near-continuously deployed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico since May 2021. While detecting Rice’s whale calls in these data provides valuable insight into the species’ spatiotemporal distribution, further analyses to localize and track individual whales would allow better characterization of their acoustic behavior and movement patterns, possibly allowing for density estimation. Here, we present a method for automated passive acoustic localization and tracking of calling Rice’s whales. The two key components of this approach are (1) the use of opportunistic sound sources to time-synchronize recordings across sites given clock-drift between acoustic recorders and (2) the implementation of automatic multi-target tracking techniques based on the Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density filter. Analyses of the first four months of data show potential for measuring basic behavioral parameters such as calling rate, source level, and average swim speed. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 153 3_supplement A184 A184 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
The endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is endemic to the Gulf of Mexico and is also the Gulf’s only resident baleen whale. Limited knowledge of this species’ ecology combined with the high industrialization of this region raises serious conservation concerns. As part of an ongoing project to study the Rice’s whale in its core habitat, an array of moored passive acoustic monitoring sites has been near-continuously deployed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico since May 2021. While detecting Rice’s whale calls in these data provides valuable insight into the species’ spatiotemporal distribution, further analyses to localize and track individual whales would allow better characterization of their acoustic behavior and movement patterns, possibly allowing for density estimation. Here, we present a method for automated passive acoustic localization and tracking of calling Rice’s whales. The two key components of this approach are (1) the use of opportunistic sound sources to time-synchronize recordings across sites given clock-drift between acoustic recorders and (2) the implementation of automatic multi-target tracking techniques based on the Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density filter. Analyses of the first four months of data show potential for measuring basic behavioral parameters such as calling rate, source level, and average swim speed. |
author2 |
Tenorio, Ludovic (author) Gruden, Pina (author) Frouin-Mouy, Heloise (author) Debich, Amanda (author) Cook, Ashley (author) Garrison, Lance (author) Nosal, Eva-Marie (author) Soldevilla, Melissa (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
spellingShingle |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
title_short |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
title_full |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
title_fullStr |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
title_full_unstemmed |
Passive acoustic localization and tracking of Rice’s whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico |
title_sort |
passive acoustic localization and tracking of rice’s whales (balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern gulf of mexico |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0018597 |
genre |
baleen whale |
genre_facet |
baleen whale |
op_relation |
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America--0001-4966--1520-8524 articles:26590 doi:10.1121/10.0018597 ark:/85065/d7542smd |
op_rights |
Copyright 2023 AIP |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0018597 |
container_title |
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
container_volume |
153 |
container_issue |
3_supplement |
container_start_page |
A184 |
op_container_end_page |
A184 |
_version_ |
1779313210225065984 |