Towards collective circum-antarctic passive acoustic monitoring:the southern ocean hydrophone network (SOHN)

• Main Authors: Van Opzeeland, I., Samaran, F., Stafford, K.M., Findlay, K., Gedamke, J., Harris, D., Miller, B.S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Balaenoptera musculus; Fin whale; Polarforschung
• Online Access: https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/towards-collective-circumantarctic-passive-acoustic-monitoring(69986781-a26c-413b-9f17-dcaa0b319c86).html; http://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.44470.d001

The Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP) is an international research program initiated within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2009 to promote collaborative cetacean research, develop nov el research techniques, and conduct non-lethal research on whales in the Southern Ocean (CHILDERHOUSE 2009). One of the original research projects of the SORP is the Blue and Fin Whale Acoustic Trends Project, which aims to implement a long term passive acoustic research program to examine trends in Antarctic blue (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) and fin whale (B. physalus) abundance, distribution, and seasonal presence in the Southern Ocean through the use of a network of passive acoustic recorders: the Southern Ocean Hydrophone Network (SOHN). Networks of widely spaced passive acoustic recorders can provide insights in spatio-temporal patterns of the presence and properties of whale calls as well as the potential to monitor trends in Antarctic blue and fin whale abundance. The SOHN will consist of a network of autonomous underwater acoustic re cording stations surrounding the Antarctic continent with each site remaining active throughout the 10-year duration of the project. In addition to circum polar coverage, high priority will be given towards achieving simultaneous temporal coverage, especially in the early years of the project. While logis tical constraints may prevent uniform distribution of SOHN recording sites around the continent, the Acoustic Trends Working group (ATW) aims to have at least one recording site in each of the six IWC management areas (i.e., one per 60° longitudinal wedge). International collaboration and coordination are imperative to achieve the project goals due to the high cost of Antarctic research as well as the broad spatial and temporal scales over which the SOHN will span. Furthermore, standardization of data is paramount for accurate and efficient analysis and interpretation of SOHN data. To facilitate international participation in the SOHN, this document provides ...