Autonomous seafloor recorders and autodetection buoys to monitor whale activity for long-term and near-real-time applications.

Abstract

Biologists and engineers from Cornell have installed arrays of autonomous seafloor recorders in multiple ocean habitats. These systems are designed to continuously monitor for the occurrence of endangered whales, particularly right whales; provide critical data on whale seasonal occurrence, distribution and relative numbers; and evaluate potential noise impacts from manmade activities and commercial shipping. Recent studies have been conducted in Massachusetts Bay around commercial LNG ports, the Arctic Ocean at seismic study locations, and in New York waters extending to the shelf edge. In combination with Cornell-developed MATLAB- and JAVA-based software applications, these seafloor recorders have been utilized to evaluate seasonal whale presence, calculate levels of commercial shipping and construction noise, and locate and track the movements and behaviors of individual whales under different acoustic conditions. Cornell and ocean engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have installed an operational network of autodetection buoys off New England to provide near-real-time data on right whale presence to transiting LNG vessels, government agencies, and public entities. When combined, the seafloor and autodetection buoy systems provide a powerful mechanism for understanding whale behavioral ecology and describing their acoustic habitats, while mitigating the risks from ship strike and noise exposure.