Speaker: David Mellinger, Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, Hatfield Marine Science Center Oregon State University

Topic: Ocean gliders for marine mammal acoustic monitoring

A glider is an ocean-going robot that makes a succession of deep dives, "flying" forward with each dive. Because it uses very little power, a glider can stay at sea for months and travel thousands of kilometers. When equipped with a hydrophone, a glider can hear marine mammal calls as it travels, and we can identify species from these calls. We've used acoustic gliders in the Pacific Northwest, southern California, Hawaii, the western Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico to map out cetacean species distributions, to find endangered species, and to discover new call types belonging to unknown species. Recently we've also been adding real-time detection capability so that gliders can be used to find rare species and report them in near-real time so that quick-response teams can launch from shore to study them. As mobile platforms, gliders are cheaper and have a much lower carbon footprint than the large ships often used for cetacean surveys.