Article #16 1/23/13
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "Scientists use marine robots to detect endangered whales." ScienceDaily, 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130109124237.htm
Topic: Whales
This article is about a project involving two robots that were created to listen for calls of baleen whales but ended up finding 9 endangered North Atlantic whales in the Gulf of Maine. The robots used were equipped with a digital acoustic monitoring instruments that allowed them to detect and identify calls from four different species of baleen whales. The gliders on the robots were able to locate whales within just a few hours of detecting their sounds. After determining where the whales were, the team of researchers reported what they found to NOAA and that resulted in management areas being put into place where mariners were asked to slow down to avoid hitting animals.
I thought this article was interesting because it was cool how the robots were just out to listen for whale calls but turned out to help find and protect whales in the North Atlantic. Hopefully these robots will be used in other parts of the world to help detect more endangered animals, not just whales.
Topic: Whales
This article is about a project involving two robots that were created to listen for calls of baleen whales but ended up finding 9 endangered North Atlantic whales in the Gulf of Maine. The robots used were equipped with a digital acoustic monitoring instruments that allowed them to detect and identify calls from four different species of baleen whales. The gliders on the robots were able to locate whales within just a few hours of detecting their sounds. After determining where the whales were, the team of researchers reported what they found to NOAA and that resulted in management areas being put into place where mariners were asked to slow down to avoid hitting animals.
I thought this article was interesting because it was cool how the robots were just out to listen for whale calls but turned out to help find and protect whales in the North Atlantic. Hopefully these robots will be used in other parts of the world to help detect more endangered animals, not just whales.