Speaker
Description
The ANTARES project, in addition to optical detectors, includes an array of 36
hydrophones that was installed with the aim of acoustic neutrino detection. The
acoustic data stream has been active since 2008 and is managed under AMADEUS.
Coincidentally, ANTARES is installed in the Pelagos marine sanctuary, home to
many marine mammals species, both whales and dolphins, all of which are
acoustically active. The fact that ANTARES is cabled (providing real-time
access to data) makes it a unique observation platform for the local marine
fauna. The LAB has been analysing the acoustic data, relayed through AMADEUS,
since 2010 with a focus especially on sperm whales and dolphins. Presented
here are some of the signal processing techniques that have been used for the
sperm whale detection and classification algorithms. In addition a study was
done to relate background noise levels to animal presence. The ability to study
trends in animal presence and a possible relationship with anthropogenic
activities for such a long and continuous time frame is unique and is
impossible as a purely biological initiative; the costs for installing such a
platform just to measure sound levels and to monitor the environment are too
high. Opening up platforms such as ANTARES, and for example
Neptune from the ONC, to marine researchers will not only help to improve
marine research but may also help to obtain funding by widening the scope of
applications. In that sense, it would be advantageous to take into account design requirements of other fields when deploying new monitoring platforms (e.g. KM3). For example, for acoustics it would be preferred not to use hardware high-pass filters and to store or transfer the raw data.
