Including Whale Call Detection in Standard Ocean Measurements: Application of Acoustic Seagliders

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue E. Moore ◽  
Bruce M. Howe ◽  
Kathleen M. Stafford ◽  
Michael L. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Ocean Measurements ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Observing Systems

Over the past decade, fixed recorders have come into increasing use for long-term sampling of whale calls in remote ocean regions. Concurrently, the development of several types of autonomous underwater vehicles has demonstrated measurement capabilities that promise to revolutionize ocean science. These two lines of technical development were merged with the addition of broadband (5 Hz to 30 kHz) omni-directional hydrophones to seagliders. In August 2006, the capability of three Acoustic Seagliders (ASGs) to detect whale calls was tested in an experiment offshore Monterey, California. In total, 401 dives were completed and over 107 hours of acoustic data recorded. Blue whale calls were detected on all but two of the 76 dives where acoustic data were analyzed in detail, while humpback and sperm whale calls were detected on roughly 20% of those dives. Various whistles, clicks and burst calls, similar to those produced by dolphins and small whales, were also detected, suggesting that the capability of ASGs can be expanded to sample a broad range of marine mammal species. The potential to include whale call detection in the suite of standard oceanographic measures is unprecedented and provides a foundation for mobile sampling strategies at scales that better match the vertical and horizontal movements of the whales themselves. This capability opens new doors for investigation of cetacean habitats and their role in marine ecosystems, as envisioned in future ocean observing systems.

Economics of an Integrated Ocean Observing System

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hauke L. Kite-Powell ◽  
Charles S. Colgan ◽  
Rodney Weiher
Keyword(s):  
Economic Value ◽  
Coastal Zone Management ◽  
Maritime Transportation ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Zone Management ◽  
Quantitative Understanding ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Ocean Observing Systems ◽  
Observing Systems

Improved ocean observing systems will produce better data on ocean phenomena and result in new and improved information about short-term and long-term ocean conditions and weather/climate. This information will be of economic value to a range of industries and activities, including maritime transportation, commercial fishing, agriculture, the energy industries, recreation, and coastal zone management. Our quantitative understanding of these benefits is incomplete, but the evidence to date suggests that benefits from well-targeted investments in integrated ocean observing systems will justify the costs. Work is underway to better quantify these benefits. This paper reviews the “value of information” approach to the economics of ocean observing systems and describes how this approach can be applied to estimate benefits and assist in the design of these systems.

scholarly journals Maximizing Benefits From Punctual Ocean Infrastructure: An Ethical Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Whoriskey ◽  
Michele Barbier ◽  
Mackenzie Mazur ◽  
Tobias Hahn ◽  
Jacob Kritzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Ethical Dilemma ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Original Intent ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Ocean Observing Systems ◽  
Observing Systems

Ethics are becoming a component of best practices in ocean science and observing systems, with the research community facing a duty to society to maximize the efficient use and benefits that stem from investments in ocean science/monitoring. Sustained ocean observing systems on issues of global importance are coordinated, internationally sanctioned and making the most out of the resources accorded to them and consequently fulfilling their duty to society. However, globally huge investments are made annually in establishing infrastructure for shorter-term, punctual studies that address targeted as opposed to broad science needs. More could be done to maximize the benefits and impacts of these punctual efforts. Given punctual infrastructure’s small and frequently transient nature, connections to enable sharing will probably be done locally, and both potential additional users and owners of the infrastructure will need to be energetic, receptive and flexible. The accommodation of new uses will have to be balanced against any costs of these additional activities, which could pose an ethical dilemma in themselves if they compromise the infrastructure’s ability to meet its original intent. However, such adaptive infrastructures may be the most efficient way to provide the resources needed to identify and monitor emerging or new ocean stressors.

scholarly journals Alliance for Coastal Technologies: Advancing Moored pCO2 Instruments in Coastal Waters

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario N. Tamburri ◽  
Thomas H. Johengen ◽  
Marlin J. Atkinson ◽  
Daniel W. H. Schar ◽  
Charles Y. Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Recent Demonstration

AbstractThe Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) has been established to support innovation and to provide the information required to select the most appropriate tools for studying and monitoring coastal and ocean environments. ACT is a consortium of nationally prominent ocean science and technology institutions and experts who provide credible performance data of these technologies through third-party, objective testing. ACT technology verifications include laboratory and field tests over short- and long-term deployments of commercial technologies in diverse environments to provide unequivocal, unbiased confirmation that technologies meet key performance requirements. ACT demonstrations of new technologies validate the technology concept and help eliminate performance problems before operational introduction. ACT’s most recent demonstration of pCO2 sensors is an example of how ACT advances the evolution of ocean observing technologies, in this case to address the critical issue of ocean acidification, and promotes more informed decision making on technology capabilities and choices.

Acoustic data quality assessment tools and findings for ocean observing systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 3410-3410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Dakin ◽  
John Dorocicz ◽  
Ben Biffard ◽  
Nathan D. Merchant ◽  
David Hannay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Data Quality Assessment ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Ocean Observing Systems ◽  
Observing Systems

scholarly journals Boundary Ocean Observation Network for the Global South

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-81
Author(s):  
Christopher E Ordoñez ◽  
John A. Barth ◽  
Moninya Roughan
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Models ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Global South ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Ocean Climate ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Observation Network ◽  
Ocean Observing

Abstract The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development should establish a Boundary Ocean Observing Network (BOON) for the Global South (GS). The BOON is part of the OceanGlider Program, which is part of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The BOON is a network of established timeseries transects collecting long-term data sets. Timeseries are critical for making immediate operational decisions and for identifying long-term trends of anthropogenic global environmental change. The network has proven important enough to continue observations and expand them. Due to resource and expertise limitations, expanded locations are in similar locations. The UN should build on this success and establish a BOON for the Global South. The same benefits will be garnered by countries and regions that have been missing out. Increased observation coverage will benefit humanity, improving understanding of the Ocean-Climate System, e.g. leading to improved climate prediction models. The UN will facilitate activities to realize a BOON for the Global South including: coordinating local scientists, partnering scientific and technical experts with local scientists, identifying new affordable and easy-to-operate technologies, channeling funds for initial and ongoing costs, and building a framework to continue the BOON-GS long after the Ocean Science Decade.

scholarly journals Decadal Assessment of Sperm Whale Site-Specific Abundance Trends in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Using Passive Acoustic Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 454
Author(s):  
Kun Li ◽  
Natalia A. Sidorovskaia ◽  
Thomas Guilment ◽  
Tingting Tang ◽  
Christopher O. Tiemann
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Sperm Whales ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Regional Abundance ◽  
Passive Acoustic

Passive acoustic monitoring has been successfully used to study deep-diving marine mammal populations. To assess regional population trends of sperm whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM), including impacts of the Deepwater Horizon platform oil spill in 2010, the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center-Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) consortium collected broadband acoustic data in the Mississippi Valley/Canyon area between 2007 and 2017 using bottom-anchored moorings. These data allow the inference of short-term and long-term variations in site-specific abundances of sperm whales derived from their acoustic activity. A comparison is made between the abundances of sperm whales at specific sites in different years before and after the oil spill by estimating the regional abundance density. The results show that sperm whales were present in the region throughout the entire monitoring period. A habitat preference shift was observed for sperm whales after the 2010 oil spill with higher activities at sites farther away from the spill site. A comparison of the 2007 and 2015 results shows that the overall regional abundance of sperm whales did not recover to pre-spill levels. The results indicate that long-term spatially distributed acoustic monitoring is critical in characterizing sperm whale population changes and in understanding how environmental stressors impact regional abundances and the habitat use of sperm whales.

Long-term stress level in a small mammal species undergoing range expansion

Mammalia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien André ◽  
Johan Michaux ◽  
Jorge Gaitan ◽  
Virginie Millien
Keyword(s):  
Stress Level ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Distribution Ranges ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Small Mammal Species ◽  
White Footed Mouse

Abstract Rapid climate change is currently altering species distribution ranges. Evaluating the long-term stress level in wild species undergoing range expansion may help better understanding how species cope with the changing environment. Here, we focused on the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), a widespread small mammal species in North-America whose distribution range is rapidly shifting northward. We evaluated long-term stress level in several populations of P. leucopus in Quebec (Canada), from the northern edge of the species distribution to more core populations in Southern Quebec. We first tested the hypothesis that populations at the range margin are under higher stress than more established populations in the southern region of our study area. We then compared four measures of long-term stress level to evaluate the congruence between these commonly used methods. We did not detect any significant geographical trend in stress level across our study populations of P. leucopus. Most notably, we found no clear congruence between the four measures of stress level we used, and conclude that these four commonly used methods are not equivalent, thereby not comparable across studies.

scholarly journals Consistency of the current global ocean observing systems from an Argo perspective

Ocean Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. von Schuckmann ◽  
J.-B. Sallée ◽  
D. Chambers ◽  
P.-Y. Le Traon ◽  
C. Cabanes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
Tropical Ocean ◽  
Steric Sea Level ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
Ocean Observing Systems ◽  
Observing Systems

Abstract. Variations in the world's ocean heat storage and its associated volume changes are a key factor to gauge global warming and to assess the earth's energy and sea level budget. Estimating global ocean heat content (GOHC) and global steric sea level (GSSL) with temperature/salinity data from the Argo network reveals a positive change of 0.5 ± 0.1 W m−2 (applied to the surface area of the ocean) and 0.5 ± 0.1 mm year−1 during the years 2005 to 2012, averaged between 60° S and 60° N and the 10–1500 m depth layer. In this study, we present an intercomparison of three global ocean observing systems: the Argo network, satellite gravimetry from GRACE and satellite altimetry. Their consistency is investigated from an Argo perspective at global and regional scales during the period 2005–2010. Although we can close the recent global ocean sea level budget within uncertainties, sampling inconsistencies need to be corrected for an accurate global budget due to systematic biases in GOHC and GSSL in the Tropical Ocean. Our findings show that the area around the Tropical Asian Archipelago (TAA) is important to closing the global sea level budget on interannual to decadal timescales, pointing out that the steric estimate from Argo is biased low, as the current mapping methods are insufficient to recover the steric signal in the TAA region. Both the large regional variability and the uncertainties in the current observing system prevent us from extracting indirect information regarding deep-ocean changes. This emphasizes the importance of continuing sustained effort in measuring the deep ocean from ship platforms and by beginning a much needed automated deep-Argo network.

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