Acoustic Technologies –
Acoustics and the pygmy blue whale

Did you know that the pygmy blue whale, undertakes twice yearly migrations along the WA coast? Researchers believe around 1000 pygmy blue whales travel south each year down our coast over October to late December. A group of scientists have been studying these whales since 2000, including investigating a series of intense low frequency sounds which the whales produce. These pygmy blue whale songs are detected using sea noise loggers which can lie on the seafloor for up to a year, collecting samples of ocean noise. These samples are returned to the office and analysed, allowing us to understand patterns in their movement and behaviour.