Observing Cetaceans from Pioneer Seamount

Talk at American Cetacean Society, April 6, 2005

Observing Cetaceans from Pioneer Seamount

SFSU Pacific Oceanography ProjectMichael Hoffman, Carl Vuosalo, and Roger Bland, Physics and Astronomy

Department and RTC

Newell Garfield, Geosciences Dept and RTC


SFSU Pacific Oceanography ProjectMichael Hoffman, Carl Vuosalo, and Roger Bland, Physics and

Astronomy Department and RTCNewell Garfield, Geosciences Dept and RTC

1. History (and Fate) of Pioneer Seamount

2. Looking at the Data

3. Species

4. Results of Blue Whale call measurement.

5. The mystery of the 52 Hz Whale

6. Conclusions

Observing Cetaceans from Pioneer Seamount


PIONEER SEAMOUNT OBSERVATORY



MAVERICK’S BREAK


MISSILE-TRACKING STATION


MISSILE-TRACKING STATION

THE RON H. BROWN


Acoustic Temperature of Ocean Climate (ATOC) Experiment


ATOC Acoustic Sources

PIONEER SEAMOUNT KAUAI


Pioneer

Seamount

1 MHz BW

4 analog signals @

1 kHz ea

Pillar Point; digitize, buffer data

Pac Bell ADSL

PMEL NOAA, Newport, Or

internet ftp

2 hrs = 63 MB

SFSU Archive

www.physics.sfsu.edu/

~seamountThe World

20 GB/month

How do we get the sound?


Raw Data

time0

pres

sure

0

pres

sure

0

10x

3 minutes

1 second


How do we look at the sound?

• Spectrograms show us the different tones found in a recording of sound.

time0

15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz

0


Naval Postgraduate School Source Deployments

RAFOS Frequency -Swept Sources

time0

15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz

0

broadband (experimental)

narrowband


??

0

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz

0

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Earthquakes


Ship Sounds

1x

10x


Wind 1x


Animal Sounds

dolphin frequencies too high for PSM

100 Hz to several kHz

Pioneer S.M. sensitive up to 450 Hz

2 to 50 kHz


Animal SoundsSCALING: How low can you go?

50 Hz

512 Hz (high C)

10,000 Hz


10x

1x Can You Name that Whale?

time0

25 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Humpback Whales10x

1xMegaptera novaengliea

time0

25 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


10x Can You Name that Whale?

time0

15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Finback Whales10x

Balaenoptera physalus

time0

15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Whale Zoo at Pioneer Seamount10x

time0 15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Can You Name This Whale?10x

time0 15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


Blue Whale

“A” call “B” call

10xBalaenoptera musculus


The “A” call1x

10x


The “B” Call1x

10x


“C” Call10x


“A-B” Calling Sequence

C C C

A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A


Rapid “B” calling10x


“Maaa Ma”10x


“D” Calls

• Identified as Blue Whales calls by: Mark A. Mc Donald, John Calambokidis, Arthur Teranishi and John A. Hildebrand, The Acoustic calls of blue whales off California with gender data, Journ. J Acoustic Soc. of Am 109 (4), April 2001.

1x

10x


Blue Whales Talking?


10x

time0 15 min

freq

uenc

y

500 Hz


MATCHED-FILTER DETECTION

)(ts

)( tr

dttrtsc )()()( -10 -5 5 10

-0.2

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

dttrtsc )()()(

dttrtsc )()()(

Finding Calls Automatically


Finding Calls Automatically: 6,000

detections


6 pm PST 6 am PST

Day vs. Night time calling


Seasonal Variability


Curve fitting with linear chirp


Frequency and Slope Results:16.01Hz with 0.1 Hz variation


How Do they Do it?

Graphics from Aroyan, McDonald, Webb, Hildebrand, Clark, Laitman and Reidenberg, “Acoustic Models of Sound Production and Propagation,” in Hearing by Whales and Dolphins, ed. Au, Popper and Fay (Springer,2000) p. 409-469.


Time between calls: all “B” calls

“A-B” calling:T=128 sec=8 sec

“B-only” calling:T=50 sec=3 sec

T

A A AB B B


Watkins et al: the “52 Hz whale.

Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific

Watkins, Daher, George and Rodriguez (Woods Hole), Deep-Sea Research I 51 (2004) 1889


52 Hz (n=3)

69 Hz (n=4)

17 Hz (n=1)

35 Hz (n=2)

87 Hz (n=5)


52 Hz (n=3)

69 Hz (n=4)

17 Hz (n=1)

35 Hz (n=2)

87 Hz (n=5)

11sec

18sec

11sec

17sec


Rapid “B” calling


Rapid “B” calling

48.6 Hz (n=3)

64 Hz (n=3)

80 Hz (n=3)

32 Hz (n=3)

16 Hz (n=3)

48.1sec

47.3sec

48.1sec

48.2sec

48.5sec

48.2sec

47.3sec

47.3sec


The Three “B” Calls


Watkins et al: the “52 Hz whale.

Tracks of cetaceousperigrinations

You are here.


PioneerSeamount,

Oct. 11

StartAug. 22

2001

Aug. 30

Oct. 23

Dec. 7

Jan. 13


Conclusions

• We see a lot of interesting Blue Whale behavior just by listening.

• Blue Whales are better at singing than humans. (perfect pitch)

• They have very precise timing.

• We still know almost nothing about the role of these sounds in their lives.


Speculations/Questions

• The Whales seem to match their pitch to each other. Is the pitch set by some social-hierarchy?

• This frequency may be getting lower due to the population aging. (Whaling was outlawed in the ~1930’s so these are baby boomer Whales.)

• Whale society may not yet be ready for Finn-Blue intermarriage.

• What do you think?

E=Mc^2


Thanks!

This work would not have been possible without the help and guidance of the following people :

• The Whales.• The American Cetacean Society- SF Bay esp. Doreen Moser• Jim Mercer and University of Washington group.• Chris Fox, Dave Mellinger and Sharon Nieukirk at PMEL• Ching Sang-Chiu at the Naval Post-Graduate School, Monterey• Mark McDonald • The Physics and Astronomy Department and the Romberg Tiburon Center, San

Francisco State University.• Roger Bland at San Francisco State University. • AND ALL OF YOU !!AND ALL OF YOU !!

Observing Cetaceans from Pioneer Seamount

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