tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33710811429982567612011-12-23T06:51:35.905-08:00Tracking Noise, and Whales, in the western MediterraneanWHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-17942857333712619202009-09-05T12:41:00.000-07:002009-09-06T00:54:54.896-07:00

Today marks the end of operations for MED-09 after over 5,000 nautical miles covered across the western Mediterranean Sea. We could not try to tag animals today since we needed to leave the operational area by evening, but we attempted to run some additional visual and acoustic surveys to add to the biological data already obtained. The seas were not friendly, however, and as we got further

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-88688060951645937342009-09-04T13:33:00.000-07:002009-09-05T00:15:09.286-07:00

We started the day in the northern part of our area where we have had almost all of our beaked whale sightings, but there was enough swell and wind that we headed south in search of better seas. We found enough lee from the island as we headed down to have workable weather by mid-morning. We covered over 80 miles along and across canyons and seamounts we had previously not searched that looked

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-348058234533030032009-09-03T07:59:00.000-07:002009-09-03T23:18:17.392-07:00

Today was a bit of a puzzle. Due to heavier winds and swell around our favored locations, we started our day well south of where we have had the most luck in this area. The conditions were better than expected and the heavier seas were further to the north. Consequently, we adapted our search plan to proceed to the area where we found multiple groups yesterday. Conditions ranged from

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-33928450180879431532009-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:002009-09-04T12:16:17.419-07:00

Today we were tantalizingly close again and had an excellent, four-hour focal follow of an adult male and adult female Cuvier's beaked whale (seen here from the tag boat during one of several close approaches). Note the prominent scars marking the male (top), which are thought to result mainly from fights with other males, and the absence of these scars on the female (bottom). The higher winds

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-72121826046833248652009-09-01T14:38:00.000-07:002009-09-01T23:45:22.406-07:00

The sea was glassy calm for several hours this morning - perfect conditions for our visual team. The wind picked up a little bit throughout the day and shifted more to the south where the islands provide us less shelter, but it remained workable throughout the day. We again spotted quite a few fin whales and had the intermittent groups of dolphins, including some that were harassing a group of

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-54417453997336015552009-08-31T14:32:00.000-07:002009-10-01T13:00:38.665-07:00

The weather was good for the most part today as we worked through an area where Cuvier's beaked whales had been seen from ferries and a few sightings from other researchers. We covered a lot of water during the day and found a lot more marine mammals than the area covered yesterday.Our first sighting was a group of three fin whales and throughout the day we would have more than 20 sightings of

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-88082332226654272792009-08-30T12:16:00.000-07:002009-08-30T22:28:27.878-07:00

Today was spent searching widely across our new operating area -- in search of suitable wind and sea conditions and, once we found those, in search of beaked whales. The day dawned rougher and windier than we expected from the forecasts, but we had a clear picture of where to find better seas. By mid-morning we worked into relatively calm winds and workable swell conditions and began running

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-44712815717670251902009-08-29T10:16:00.000-07:002009-08-29T22:29:16.834-07:00

We were all very happy today to be back on effort and for much of the day in very calm seas. After a short pit stop at dawn to restock with some supplies we began searching for marine mammals in our new operating area. Shortly thereafter we spotted a mother-calf pair of Cuvier's beaked whales. This was encouraging since the area where we are now has not been systematically surveyed and,

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-3041967674232816232009-08-28T10:19:00.000-07:002009-08-29T09:13:22.418-07:00

We have been steaming for 48 hours now and are nearing our final operational area. The winds were a bit lighter for part of the day today as we moved further away from the north African coastline, but as got into quite deep water we did not see a great deal of marine life. Several sperm whales, dolphin groups, and a sea turtle were spotted throughout the day, however, as we came through these

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-35764199092906573622009-08-27T07:13:00.000-07:002009-08-29T22:32:00.885-07:00

Today was the first of two days transit to our new operating area in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We continued both visual and acoustic observations while traveling and were quite interested in what we might see or hear because the areas we are passing through have not been well-studied. Some dolphin groups were detected, but not much else. We had reasonable seas and the wind was just 10-12 knots, but

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-27787412901483167222009-08-26T13:58:00.000-07:002009-08-26T23:41:59.138-07:00

The winds gradually came down from the gales of last night throughout the day, but the swell from the sustained strong (Beaufort 7) winds remained prohibitively high for us. Our visual observers went on watch several times as we looked for pilot whales. We did find some, but with the seas and the fact that most of the sub-groups had small calves, we did not attempt to attach acoustic tags. As

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-904912667245885982009-08-25T22:13:00.000-07:002009-08-25T23:14:40.318-07:00

The wind blew steady all day today from the west at 20-25 knots with gusts to 30, building heavy swell. The combination of Beaufort 6-7 winds and resulting seas was way beyond what our visual or tag team could work in for any species and they were not placed on effort at any point today. We did continue to monitor acoustically, while holding on, and covered some interesting-looking areas. But

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-82524564825448676492009-08-24T10:55:00.000-07:002009-08-24T22:54:09.281-07:00

Our read of the weather was right on today. We had excellent conditions in the morning, workable weather in the middle of the day, and strong winds by mid-afternoon. As has been the case every day we have been in beaked whale areas with suitable sea conditions, we saw many animals today. If you look closely at the picture here you can see the three different sizes of binoculars we use to

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-63717623941883293792009-08-23T11:44:00.000-07:002009-08-23T22:09:43.549-07:00

Today dawned much calmer than expected and we were on animals both visually and acoustically quickly. We searched around our first beaked whale acoustic detection and soon thereafter had a visual sighting. We also crossed paths with a large group of common dolphins (50 animals or more), saw some large Risso's dolphins riding on the bow of a nearby large ship, heard pilot whales, and saw a

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-37895576234014527802009-08-22T10:54:00.001-07:002009-08-22T23:30:14.719-07:00

Today was a repeat of yesterday -- if anything a little worse. We had steady 15 knot winds for most of the day picking up to near 20 later on. We surveyed for pilot whales until afternoon when it became too strong to search for anything visually. As yesterday, we continue to search acoustically and some beaked whale clicks were detected during the day in areas where we had sighted them before.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-23667242966139902502009-08-21T13:48:00.001-07:002009-08-21T14:48:09.800-07:00

Despite the favorable predictions, the weather front we expected tomorrow seemed to arrive a day early. We experienced winds around 15 knots for most of the day with regular whitecaps - conditions that are inconsistent with spotting beaked whales visually. We continued in survey mode focusing on areas where we might expect pilot whales; the weather would have allowed us to work with them for

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-7522641659879241842009-08-20T14:13:00.000-07:002009-08-21T01:56:32.117-07:00

We had another very good day today in terms of wind and sea conditions. We consequently found many cetaceans, including our primary species of interest. We worked mostly in the deep axis of the same canyon area and detected many groups of Cuvier's beaked whales throughout a very long and full day of activity. Acoustic surveys begin at 0500, visuals come on at dawn, and both teams operated

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-81593123517325953632009-08-19T15:13:00.001-07:002009-08-20T03:07:56.335-07:00

Today dawned calmer with light seas and winds between just 5-10 knots for most of the day dropping to almost zero by late afternoon and evening. These are the conditions we need to reliably sight and tag beaked whales. Throughout the day we sighted many cetaceans, including hundreds of common, striped, and Risso's dolphins, pilot whales, and about 8-10 different groups of Cuvier's beaked whales

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-86318401119709158242009-08-18T12:45:00.000-07:002009-08-18T22:38:45.807-07:00

Last night we ran an all-night passive acoustic survey on our way back toward the Spanish coast through the dark. We needed to make a brief, unplanned return to enable some medical assessments and crew-changes. Safety comes first and everyone is well and on the ship ready for action. Nevertheless, it took much of the day away from our efforts to tag beaked whales, though we did return into

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-2490764119325374522009-08-17T12:29:00.000-07:002009-08-17T22:59:31.011-07:00

Our first full day on effort for the second leg dawned windier than hoped. Seas were light, but the 10-15 knot winds made things difficult for the visual teams who came on at first light. Acoustics had a large amount of dolphin activity again before dawn but did not pick up any beaked whales while scanning. We ran a slightly westerly track across promising areas for deep-diving whales in order

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-52673468716424840172009-08-16T14:11:00.001-07:002009-08-16T23:24:46.805-07:00

Today was the first operational day of the second leg of MED -09. Some gear had been adjusted or repaired and new personnel were in certain key roles, so we began the day deploying and testing the hardware and software needed for the very challenging task of finding, following, tagging, and safely exposing beaked whales to sound. We remained vigilant throughout these drills for animals either

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-63399427688150013222009-08-15T05:16:00.000-07:002009-08-16T22:33:42.518-07:00

The past two days we made our scheduled port call in Málaga, Spain for supplies and to transfer several of the scientific crew. Those on the first leg of the project were glad to stretch their legs ashore for a short time in between the bustle of debriefing those arriving to ensure consistency in protocols and data collection. It was a festive time in the city; our brief time there happened to

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-10893913725954005722009-08-13T22:15:00.000-07:002009-08-13T23:30:29.451-07:00

The forecast last night was for winds around 12 knots this morning, but it dawned very calm. The whales we stopped working with at 9 last night were near a main concentration of beaked whales seen last year. To get the best odds of being with whales this morning, we conducted an acoustic survey of much of last year's concentration from midnight to 0700 when there starts being enough light for the

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-8986980701896899622009-08-12T22:55:00.000-07:002009-08-12T23:50:06.952-07:00

Today dawned calmer than predicted. In our efforts to find workable seas over the past few days, we have moved out of the area surveyed for whales last year. This morning we started heading back to the hot spots in the areas surveyed last year and during the earlier parts of this cruise, listening and watching for whales, with a course that we hoped would cover favorable habitat for beaked whales

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-64205348289715749482009-08-11T23:36:00.001-07:002009-08-12T10:54:25.066-07:00

After the winds of yesterday, it was a relief today to have winds mostly around 10 knots or less. But swells and waves remained from yesterday, creating difficulties for the visual observers. The acoustic monitoring worked well, and we set a course outside of our normal survey tracks in order to get the best weather conditions we could find for beaked whales. Twice during the day, acoustics got

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-28459978361900235272009-08-10T22:22:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:31:56.375-07:00

Today dawned with OK weather but a forecast for increasing winds. We had positioned the ship to an area where beaked whales had been detected and weather was forecast to be best, but we did not encounter workable weather nor beaked whales. The wind increased so much that the visual team had to come down from the flying bridge in the mid-morning, and reached above 30 knots during the afternoon.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-58839065803518725732009-08-09T22:00:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:32:19.187-07:00

Last night we set a track line for today designed to get a combination of the best weather suggested by our forecasts and the best beaked whale habitat. This morning there were low waves and whitecaps -- marginal for sighting and tracking beaked whales, but possible. We were hearing pilot and beaked whales near sunrise. We were not able to sight the beaked whales we heard, but we did sight pilot

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-21620167306549645412009-08-08T22:22:00.000-07:002009-08-10T12:46:15.816-07:00

The equipment and training that the teams on the Alliance have been doing are all dedicated to the difficult task of tagging beaked whales. The species we are working on in the Mediterranean Sea is Cuvier's beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris. Today pretty much everyone on the ship was focused on this job all day.The ideal weather for tagging a beaked whale is flat calm. Calm weather makes it

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-62605842073180843432009-08-07T06:06:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:38:55.624-07:00

Today was predicted to have moderate winds. At first light, it was clear that it would be too windy to try to find and tag beaked whales, so we decided to work with pilot whales. As luck would have it, we heard distinctive sounds of pilot whales by 0700 and sighted them by 0800. One of the unusual things about pilot whales in this part of the Mediterranean is that they seem fascinated by ships.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-34902741282627702622009-08-06T12:03:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:38:23.951-07:00

Beaked whales are very difficult to sight at sea. Their blows are seldom visible, they can hold their breath on a dive for 1 - 1.5 hours, and when they do surface it is for a short time. When beaked whales were first tagged with acoustic recording tags in early part of this decade, we learned that they make deep dives to almost 2 km deep, over one mile below the sea surface to feed on deep prey.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-17198471875869037432009-08-05T10:25:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:36:49.168-07:00

This morning the sea conditions were not perfect but were OK for sighting. We listened and looked for whales, picking up lots of animals as we near our primary study site. This afternoon the visual observers sighted a Cuvier's beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris, and noticed that she was logging at the surface in an unusual way. This whale was entangled in a fishing net, with two cuts on her side.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-50868908829527676352009-08-05T08:48:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:39:40.820-07:00

Today we transit towards the Alboran Sea. This provides a time to talk about one of the most important parts of any ship -- the galley. The Italian cooks on the Alliance make sure that the crew eats at a level that is sure to keep up morale. Breakfast always has fresh focaccia and plenty of espresso. Lunch and dinner have antipasti, primi, secondi, dolci and caffe. I do not know how they keep

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-68235049506005119762009-08-04T02:02:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:40:02.334-07:00

This morning dawned unusually cloudy for this time of year. It was calm enough for the visual observers to work, but they needed to bundle up to stay warm. The wind came up by the afternoon, making it difficult to sight whales, but the acoustic monitors kept listening. At the same time, the engineers on the ship were working on troubleshooting one of the systems designed to measure the bearing to

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-87295484913732271282009-08-02T12:23:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:40:14.781-07:00

Even though wind was forecast, the weather remained good for visual survey through the morning and into the early afternoon. The visual team got a good workout on the data logging program and GIS displays, but did not see any beaked whales nor many dolphins. Nor did the acoustic team hear them. We will continue to survey in this area for one more day as weather in the Alboran Sea looks like it

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-84284320876599576832009-08-01T12:07:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:40:59.853-07:00

Today the teams and equipment were ready to start surveying for whales. The ship is towing hydrophones that allow the acoustic team to monitor for whale sounds while visual observers watch from the flying bridge. As you can see from the picture, the acoustic monitors spend all day inside the main scientific lab monitoring computer screens and listening, while tomorrow you will see that the

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-72182724415267821712009-07-31T11:51:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:35:05.694-07:00

Today we tested acoustic equipment such as the sonobuoy pictured here, which records sound from an underwater microphone or hydrophone and broadcasts the signal back to the ship using radio. As usual, there are little glitches to work out, but most of the equipment is working very well. We were ready to look for whales in the afternoon. Weather was very calm -- excellent for visibility and

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-45360961020879909462009-07-30T07:49:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:35:15.200-07:00

We are underway from Italy. Unlike yesterday, today we have winds up to 40 knots. Too rough for sighting whales and putting out the tag boat. The team is testing acoustic and computer equipment, practicing operating the observer data logging programs, etc. While the cruise is in the Mediterranean, readers who are concerned about the bombing in Mallorca should rest assured that we are far away.

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-4881087941613961182009-07-29T12:05:00.001-07:002009-08-13T09:35:37.197-07:00

The ship left port at about 0900 in perfect weather, warm, no clouds, and calm seas. After a safety drill and initial all hands meeting to go over the science plan, the visual observers got their equipment ready to work, and they started observations after lunch. We are transiting through the Pelagos Sanctuary today, so our only marine mammal related activity is sighting for marine mammals. The

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-57211202581694906022009-07-29T11:57:00.000-07:002009-08-13T09:35:50.073-07:00

The research team arrived in La Spezia on the 27th and 28th of July along with loads of equipment – hydrophones, cable, big eye binoculars, tagging equipment, and more computers than people. The task for these days is to unpack, organize and install equipment. No escaping the last trip to the hardware and electronics stores to buy wire, connectors, batteries … The Permit Division of the Office of

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371081142998256761.post-44361492456199214722009-07-22T12:33:00.000-07:002009-07-28T12:15:51.026-07:00

Cruise Dates: July 27 - September 7, 2009 -Research Cruise MED 09 (short for Mediterranean 2009) is part of an ongoing, international, and interdisciplinary effort to better understand whale behavior, particularly the effects of sound in the sea on beaked whales and other marine mammals. Researchers want to understand how whales change their behavior when they hear different sounds, both natural

WHOI Expeditionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733099813322963367noreply@blogger.com