FIRST OF ITS KIND RESEARCH
Aboard the 18- day sailing to Antarctica in February 2022, an allfemale team of California Ocean Alliance (COA) research biologists was conducting the most robust marine sound research to date in one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. “With COA we’re working on finding solutions to minimize the impact on wildlife,” Dr. Meraldi says. Kiirsten Flynn, Chloe Lew, and Liah McPherson collected acoustic data of baleen whales singing, drone photography, and biopsy samples of whales’ skin and blubber
to evaluate the animals’ health, population growth rates, food sources, and stress levels. Lew is a bioacoustic marine researcher who places an acoustic buoy in the water, which is attached to a hydrophone which sinks 10 meters (33 feet) deep. “We’ve recovered humpback whale contact calls and moans. They’ll call one another when they're coordinating foraging. Those calls travel far because of the low frequency,” she says. The scientific research reveals whales’ behavior near ships and provides critical information to
cruise lines on how they can adapt to minimize interference with whales. “We collect acoustic data of ambient noise levels in the soundscapes in the Antarctic which is a critical environment marine mammals use to carry out foraging, breeding, navigation, and communication. The environment is changing due to climate change and increased human activity. These baseline measurements of ambient noise are crucial in establishing the correct management decisions for ocean
noise and sea policies,” Lew says.