Being able to determine the range or distance to an object from its acoustic signal is a key component in tracking the object. We will apply concepts from the Bayesian processor (Kalman filter) as well as known environmental aspects to LADC-GEMM underwater passive acoustic data: sperm whales, beaked whales and dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The Bayesian processor has had applications in chemical processing, navigation, ocean acoustics, seismology, and tracking, among others. We will use a modified version of the Kalman filter with data from a single hydrophone to determine the most-probable range of the marine mammal from the hydrophone. We will use such aspects as the geometry of the region, the depth of the hydrophone, the range of possible detection, the structure of the click and other factors to restrict the possible locations of the marine mammal source. From this, we can determine a three-dimensional shell of most probable locations for the marine mammal.
The Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center–Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) consortium collected underwater acoustic data in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 2015, returning to sites previously surveyed by LADC (2007, 2009, and 2010). Results presented here are produced using data recorded by the LADC-GEMM Environmental Acoustic Recording Systems (EARS) at the site closest to the BP oil spill, specifically for Rizzo, bottlenose, Clymene, and Pantropical-Spotted dolphins. Clustering and trained classifier techniques were used to isolate dolphin species. A population model developed by LADC-GEMM based on acoustic data collected from the EARS buoys is used to estimate the strength of delphinid recovery in the northern Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill. [This research was made possible by a grant from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. Data are publicly available through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information & Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) at https://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org.]
We report here on an effort to involve high school physics students in research on impacts of oil spills on marine mammals at a local university. We believe that the effort described here might be useful to others who would like to involve physics students in research, especially work of an interdisciplinary nature. The students learn to work independently and to communicate and collaborate in a professional environment. The directing high school teacher for this project was also a university graduate student involved in the university research project. The high school students used a computer program provided by the university to determine the types of passive acoustic marine mammal signals recorded, primarily whales and dolphins. The students got a taste of scientific research and of being part of a research group, very desirable qualities for future college graduates. Student feedback indicated that they enjoyed learning to work with the data and that they think they are more likely to go to college and major in a STEM-related field.
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