Academic Journal
Detecting silent whales using seabed fiber-optic cables.
| Τίτλος: | Detecting silent whales using seabed fiber-optic cables. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Rørstadbotnen RA; Acoustics Group, Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim 7034, Norway.; Centre for Geophysical Forecasting, Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim 7034, Norway., Landrø M; Acoustics Group, Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim 7034, Norway.; Centre for Geophysical Forecasting, Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim 7034, Norway. |
| Πηγή: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2026 Jun 30; Vol. 123 (26), pp. e2603077123. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 23. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: National Academy of Sciences Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7505876 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1091-6490 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00278424 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Washington, DC : National Academy of Sciences |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Acoustics*/instrumentation , Vocalization, Animal*/physiology , Whales*/physiology , Fiber Optic Technology*/methods , Fiber Optic Technology*/instrumentation, Swimming/physiology ; Animals ; Hydrodynamics ; Ships |
| Περίληψη: | Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has emerged as a powerful tool for passive whale monitoring, enabling both the detection of vocalizations and the simultaneous tracking of multiple individuals. However, a fundamental limitation of passive acoustic monitoring is that most methods rely on acoustic data, which is only available when whales vocalize. This clearly demonstrates the need for new sensing methods that can detect silent whales. In this paper, we detect hydrodynamic pressure and velocity fields in the low-frequency DAS data induced by a whale's motion and develop methods to analyze these signals. First, we use ships as proxies to demonstrate and calibrate the proposed method. Then, we show that a simple fluid mechanical model can be adapted to understand how whale swimming can be detected and analyzed using DAS. We detect multiple silent whales simultaneously, estimate their characteristics, and show that whale motion signals decay as one over distance cubed. Moreover, we demonstrate that we can observe hydrodynamic pressure and velocity signals from a cruise ship at 413 m water depth, and up to 550 m from the fiber cable. In comparison, the smaller blue whales can be observed when diving within 40 m of the fiber-optical cable. This sensing method enables an approach to monitoring one of the world's most endangered species. |
| Competing Interests: | Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest. |
| Σχόλια: | Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Oct 13;123(41):e2632392123. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2632392123.. (PMID: 42832673) |
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| Grant Information: | 309960 Centre for geophyscial forecasting at NTNU |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Arctic; distributed acoustic sensing; pressure fluctuation; silent sources |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260623 Date Completed: 20260623 Latest Revision: 20261005 |
| Update Code: | 20261006 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13321103 |
| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2603077123 |
| PMID: | 42335233 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1091-6490 |
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| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2603077123 |