Repurposing the internet's backbone to advance whale monitoring
Bioacoustics researcher Léa Bouffaut, at the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, has spent the past several years eavesdropping on the conversations of whales. But instead of using underwater microphones like other marine scientists, she listens by tapping into fiber-optic cables lying on the ocean floor—a powerful tool to aid in marine mammal conservation.
Bioacoustics researcher Léa Bouffaut has discovered a novel method for monitoring whale populations using fiber-optic cables installed on the ocean floor. These cables, originally designed for telecommunications or power transmission, pick up vibrations from sound waves, including those produced by whales. By analyzing the unique "fingerprints" left by different whale species, Bouffaut has been able to detect blue and fin whales, as well as bowhead whales, which were previously difficult to monitor using traditional underwater microphones.
This technology, known as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), essentially turns long stretches of seafloor into dense networks of virtual acoustic sensors, providing real-time data access over tens of kilometers from land. The breakthrough detection of bowhead whale vocalizations on a telecommunication cable marks a significant step forward in using DAS for whale conservation efforts, potentially enabling new ways of estimating populations, tracking migration timing, and studying the impact of environmental changes on Arctic whales.
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