AOOS Increases Observing Activities: Undersea Glider Monitors Marine Mammals off Alaska's Arctic Coast

摘要

A robotic underwater glider flew for two months this summer off the northwest coast of Alaska. It monitored-marine mammal distributions and their relationship with oceanographic conditions in the Chukchi Sea. The glider was deployed in mid-July by the University of Alaska field team for the third year of a multiyear monitoring study funded by AOOS. The buoyancy-controlled glider is equipped with a passive acoustic device called DMON (digital acoustic monitoring instrument), which is installed inside the glider while a hull-mounted hydrophone monitors frequencies between 10 and 7,500 Hz (the frequency range for both marine mammals as well as background noise).