Visualizing the soundscape of the calving grounds of the North Atlantic Right Whale

Michael Towsey; Leah Barclay; Ginna Brock

doi:10.52086/001c.25563

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Visualizing the soundscape of the calving grounds of the North Atlantic Right Whale

Non-fiction

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Visualizing the soundscape of the calving grounds of the North Atlantic Right Whale

Michael Towsey, Leah Barclay and Ginna Brock

Text, Vol.22(Special Issue 52), pp.1-11

Australian Association of Writing Programs

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52086/001c.25563

Appears in NTRO Research Collection

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Abstract

Performing Arts and Creative Writing

creative writing

North Atlantic Right Whale

spectrogram

anthropogenic noise

soundscape

ecoacoustics

The key to this provocation is the spectrogram with its beautiful bands of colours. This image represents 44 days of recorded acoustic data which has been subject to falsecolour imagery in the same way that satellite images are represented. The soundscape was captured to help ecologists understand the migration patterns of the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. The spectrograms identify three dominant features of the ocean soundscape in the area of this sample (15 kilometres off the coast of Georgia in the centre of the whales' calving grounds): mechanical noise from passing ships; the night chorus of the black-drum fish (Pogonias cromis); and a mysterious third element, possibly caused by the cables that tether the hydrophone to the ocean floor strumming under the influence of strong tidal currents.

Details

Title: Visualizing the soundscape of the calving grounds of the North Atlantic Right Whale
Authors: Michael Towsey (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Leah Barclay (Author) - Griffith University
Ginna Brock (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
Publication details: Text, Vol.22(Special Issue 52), pp.1-11
Publisher: Australian Association of Writing Programs
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.52086/001c.25563
ISSN: 1327-9556
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451482102621
Output Type: Non-fiction
Local Fields: NT3

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