We’re thrilled to announce the publication of a new paper from a large-scale innovative study of behavioral responses of sound-sensitive beaked whales to experimental simulations of tactical military sonar systems. We’ve known these species are sensitive to (and sometimes strand from) exposure to these kinds of sonars, and earlier studies have tested responses in a few individuals. However, this study included a massive expansion of sample size and spatial-temporal coverage of baseline and exposure-response data.
We tagged 53 whales with tags of different space and time resolution with tens of thousands of hours of data. We used controlled exposure experiments and conducted 72 experimental events with tagged whales over 100 days of field work off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Read this new paper, just published in Ecosphere, with was lead and co-authored by THREE of our very own SEA scientists (Southall, Schick, and Cioffi), along with many wonderful colleagues from various institutions around the world. You can also check out a related post from colleagues at Duke University who led field operations and aspects of the analysis and get their take on this exciting, newly published work by clicking here.