Minke whale boing sound detections in the northeastern Chukchi Sea

摘要

Boing sounds in the North Pacic have been reported by submariners and underwater acousticians for several decades (Wenz 1964, Thompson and Friedl 1982). These sounds are composed of a brief pulse (precursor component; Oswald et al. 2011) followed by a longer, frequency- and amplitude-modulated segment (Rankin and Barlow 2005). Gedamke et al. (2001) initially noted some similarities between boing sounds and the “star-wars” vocalization produced by minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) near the Great Barrier Reef. Rankin and Barlow (2005) subsequently conrmed minke whales as the source of the boing sounds. Boing sounds have been detected in the North Pacic between October and May, with a peak in February and March (Turl 1980, Thompson and Friedl 1982, Oswald et al. 2011). Their occurrence is seasonal and restricted primarily to low latitudes (south of 30oN) although there is one reported detection at 52oN near the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia (Turl 1980).