Gray whale target strength measurements and the analysis of the backscattered response

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One of the current Integrated Marine Mammal Monitoring and Protection System (IMPAS) directions is concentrated on the design and development of the active sonar modality representing just one component of the global system. The active sonar was designed, built, and tested during the Marine Mammal Active Sonar Test (MAST 04), producing whale detections and whale tracks. The experiment was conducted in January 2004 off the coast of California. One of the objectives of the current work is to distinguish whale backscattered responses from the ones generated by the environmental clutter in a waveguide. Furthermore, the work aims to identify and analyze the target signature features that are necessary for enhanced active sonar detection and classification of marine mammals. Over the years there have been very few documented attempts to capture and analyze the backscattering response of whales using an active sonar system. Nevertheless, whales, mostly owing to their size, their motion, and the aspect dependence of their backscattered field, possess desirable properties that help distinguish their scattered response from clutter and other environment related false alarms. As an initial step, data collected during the MAST 04 experiment are presented, and gray whale target strength measurements are obtained. Results are compared to the previously published whale target strengths. Additionally, an investigation is conducted in an effort to provide whale feature identification points suitable for automated detection and classification, as means of relating gray whale active acoustic signatures to their inherent characteristics and their motion.