Marine Animal Sound Database. Twelve Years of Tracking 52-Hz Whale Calls from a Unique Source in the North Pacific

Abstract : Long-term monitoring of underwater sounds using U.S. Navy SOSUS and other hydrophone arrays allowed us to follow the seasonal distribution of underwater calls produced by blue, fin and humpback whales across the North Pacific. These new data from this current study have been added to data of previous 7 years' deep-water monitoring,enabling us to document year-to-year variations in marine mammal calling. These data have also been added to the marine mammal sound archive at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Tracking of individual whales has been accomplished using the Navy's deep-water monitoring system as evidenced by the tracking of a unique 52-Hz call, with his current study cumulating a 12 year track The large WHOI sound database provided comparisons and analysis of these sounds. The year-round monitoring of blue whales has uncovered at least two distinct call types which occur in very specific regions in the North Pacific. These data collected across a broad area without the restriction of weather or time of day are invaluable to researchers interested in population trends of marine animals.