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Whale Calls

June 2, 2013

Biologist Mark Baumgartner recovers a robotic glider equipped with a WHOI-developed digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument after it found several endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine. Baumgartner wrote the software that allows the DMON to detect, classify, and report the unique calls of sei, fin, humpback, and right whales, and the glider’s Iridium satellite antenna transmits its findings back to shore every two hours. Baumgartner and Dave Fratantoni used the information to quickly locate nine right whales during a week-long cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor in December 2012. The scientists also alerted the National Marine Fisheries Service, who asked mariners in the area to voluntarily reduce vessel speed to avoid striking the animals. (Photo by Nadine Lysiak, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)