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Listening in the Depths

January 2, 2019

Sound carries messages in the watery medium of the ocean. To listen in, scientists use underwater microphones, or hydrophones, to record calls from whales or sound waves from airguns towed behind ships, which are used to examine structures on and below the seafloor, including oil and gas reservoirs. Generally, scientists need expensive networks of hydrophones to fully capture and locate sound signals. WHOI acoustician Julien Bonnel in the WHOI Ocean Acoustics and Signal Lab is investigating a technique called warping that gives scientists the ability to decipher sound signals more economically using only one hydrophone. (Illustration by Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Creative Studio)