Passive acoustic monitoring of sperm whales and anthropogenic noise using stereophonic recordings in the Mediterranean Sea, North West Pelagos Sanctuary

Poupard, Marion; Ferrari, Maxence; Best, Paul; Glotin, Hervé

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05917-1

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Moreover, the reliability of these approaches in more heterogeneous recording conditions is yet to be proven. When PAM stations are closer to the surface and/or to the coast, they are exposed to more noise 31 (e.g. weather conditions, boat traffic) which hinders detection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal evolution of the Mediterranean fin whale song

Best

Marxer

Paris

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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We present an analysis of fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) songs on passive acoustic recordings from the Pelagos Sanctuary (Western Mediterranean Basin). The recordings were gathered between 2008 and 2018 using 2 different hydrophone stations. We show how 20 Hz fin whale pulses can be automatically detected using a low complexity convolutional neural network (CNN) despite data variability (different recording devices exposed to diverse noises). The pulses were further classified into the two categories described in past studies and inter pulse intervals (IPI) were measured. The results confirm previous observations on the local relationship between pulse type and IPI with substantially more data. Furthermore we show inter-annual shifts in IPI and an intra-annual trend in pulse center frequency. This study provides new elements of comparison for the understanding of long term fin whale song trends worldwide.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal evolution of the Mediterranean fin whale song

Best

Marxer

Paris

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…We hence examined the role of sea-ice concentration on the probability of detecting sperm whale in an hour and the average number of detections per hour (detection rate) at A1 and A3. Simple estimates of click intensity, sound attenuation, background noise and detector sensitivity led us to estimate that we may detect sperm whale vocalizations from a maximum Frontiers in Remote Sensing frontiersin.org possible distance of about 30 km, comparable with previous studies (e.g., Poupard et al, 2022). We hence used mean satellite estimates of ice concentration within 30 km of each hydrophone in our analysis.…”

Section: Metricmentioning

confidence: 79%

Sperm whales forage year-round in the ross sea region

Giorli

Pinkerton

2023

Front. Remote Sens.

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We investigated the seasonal and spatial occurrence of sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Ross Sea region of the Southern Ocean derived from passive acoustic data. Two Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorders (AMARs) moored about 10 m above the seabed were deployed in the austral summer of 2018 and recovered 1 year later. The northern AMAR (A3) was located on the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at 63.7°S and the southern AMAR (A1) at 73.1°S on the Iselin Bank, part of the continental slope of the Ross Sea. Sperm whale echolocation signals were detected using signal processing scripts and validated by visual inspection of spectrograms. Our results demonstrate that sperm whales are present in the Ross Sea region year-round. At A1, sperm whale vocalisations were detected in every month between February and November, but absent in December and January. Whales were detected most often in February with an average of 0.310 detections per hour. Sperm whale vocalisations were detected at station A3 in every month except February when we had no observations. Our results contrast to a paucity of reported sightings of sperm whales from fishing and research vessels in the Ross Sea region between December and February. Probabilities of detecting sperm whales at A3 were on average 14.2 times higher than at A1 for the same month and monthly mean detections per hour were an average of 74.4 times higher at A3 than A1. At A1, we found a significant preference for day-time foraging rather than during the night or nautical twilight. In contrast, at A3, no clear day/dusk/night/dawn differences in sperm whale occurrence were found. Low sea-ice concentration (< 80%) and open water within ∼50 km were necessary but not sufficient conditions for higher detection rates of sperm whales (>0.1 detections per hour). Overall, our research provides baseline information on sperm whale occurrence and establishes a method to track long-term change to help evaluate the conservation value of the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area.

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“…Autonomous vehicles have typically been used to track targets that are capable of holding large payloads that have substantial energy consumption ( 12 ). To overcome this issue, researchers have studied passive acoustic monitoring techniques, which use the sound produced by underwater targets to detect and track their sources ( 44 ). Although it can be used to monitor targets that emit characteristic sound profiles, it is difficult to differentiate between different objects with similar sound profiles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic robotic tracking of underwater targets using reinforcement learning

et al. 2023

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To realize the potential of autonomous underwater robots that scale up our observational capacity in the ocean, new techniques are needed. Fleets of autonomous robots could be used to study complex marine systems and animals with either new imaging configurations or by tracking tagged animals to study their behavior. These activities can then inform and create new policies for community conservation. The role of animal connectivity via active movement of animals represents a major knowledge gap related to the distribution of deep ocean populations. Tracking underwater targets represents a major challenge for observing biological processes in situ, and methods to robustly respond to a changing environment during monitoring missions are needed. Analytical techniques for optimal sensor placement and path planning to locate underwater targets are not straightforward in such cases. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of reinforcement learning as a tool for range-only underwater target-tracking optimization, whose promising capabilities have been demonstrated in terrestrial scenarios. To evaluate its usefulness, a reinforcement learning method was implemented as a path planning system for an autonomous surface vehicle while tracking an underwater mobile target. A complete description of an open-source model, performance metrics in simulated environments, and evaluated algorithms based on more than 15 hours of at-sea field experiments are presented. These efforts demonstrate that deep reinforcement learning is a powerful approach that enhances the abilities of autonomous robots in the ocean and encourages the deployment of algorithms like these for monitoring marine biological systems in the future.

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Passive acoustic monitoring of sperm whales and anthropogenic noise using stereophonic recordings in the Mediterranean Sea, North West Pelagos Sanctuary

Cited by 14 publications

References 77 publications

Temporal evolution of the Mediterranean fin whale song

Temporal evolution of the Mediterranean fin whale song

Sperm whales forage year-round in the ross sea region

Dynamic robotic tracking of underwater targets using reinforcement learning

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