Underwater sound monitoring continues in Laguna San Ignacio
Since 2005, scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) have collaborated with members of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS) to collect acoustic data using autonomous bottom-mounted recorders, during gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) breeding season in Laguna San Ignacio, Mexico. The overall objectives of this long-term passive acoustic monitoring study are:
- To demonstrate the potential of autonomous instruments and novel techniques such as tracking vocalizing gray whales and monitoring population trends using sound measurements alone.
- Monitor trends in the lagoon’s dynamic acoustic environment.
- Study the vocal repertoire and behavior of gray whales in their breeding grounds.
Each season new ideas are tested. The objective this year was to deploy two lines equipped with two acoustic records each in order to test whether gray whale sounds could be tracked in 2D over a small region (a 300 m radius circle).
This report summarizes the methods, experimental setup and deployment/recovery of the instruments for the 2016 winter season.