Acoustic vector sensor beamforming reduces masking from underwater industrial noise during passive monitoring.
Masking from industrial noise can hamper the ability to detect marine mammal sounds near industrial operations, whenever conventional (pressure sensor) hydrophones are used for passive acoustic monitoring. Using data collected from an autonomous recorder with directional capabilities (Directional Autonomous Seafloor Acoustic Recorder), deployed 4.1 km from an arctic drilling site in 2012, the authors demonstrate how conventional beamforming on an acoustic vector sensor can be used to suppress noise arriving from a narrow sector of geographic azimuths. Improvements in signal-to-noise ratio of up to 15 dB are demonstrated on bowhead whale calls, which were otherwise undetectable using conventional hydrophones.
Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, California 92093-0205, USA athode@ucsd.edu.
Aaron M
AM
Thode
Greeneridge Sciences, Inc., 90 Dean Arnold Place, Suite D, Santa Barbara, California 93117, USA khkim@greeneridge.com, bobnorman@greeneridge.com, susanna@greeneridge.com, cgreene@greeneridge.com.
Katherine H
KH
Kim
Greeneridge Sciences, Inc., 90 Dean Arnold Place, Suite D, Santa Barbara, California 93117, USA khkim@greeneridge.com, bobnorman@greeneridge.com, susanna@greeneridge.com, cgreene@greeneridge.com.
Robert G
RG
Norman
Greeneridge Sciences, Inc., 90 Dean Arnold Place, Suite D, Santa Barbara, California 93117, USA khkim@greeneridge.com, bobnorman@greeneridge.com, susanna@greeneridge.com, cgreene@greeneridge.com.
Susanna B
SB
Blackwell
Greeneridge Sciences, Inc., 90 Dean Arnold Place, Suite D, Santa Barbara, California 93117, USA khkim@greeneridge.com, bobnorman@greeneridge.com, susanna@greeneridge.com, cgreene@greeneridge.com.
Charles R
CR
Greene
D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation; D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D000066388:Oil and Gas Industry; D011312:Pressure; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors; D014160:Transducers, Pressure; D014828:Vocalization, Animal; D014867:Water
D014867:Water