Bill Burgess
Senior Research Engineer and SWSS Acoustics Team
Greeneridge Sciences
Santa Barbara, CA

Figure 1

In addition to the satellite and depth tags placed on whales, this year an additional tag type will be deployed as part of the SWSS program. The B-Probe, or bioacoustic probe (Figure 1) will be attached to a small number of whales to record acoustic data and time-depth profiles.

Figure 2

The B-probe is attached to the whale using suction cups (Figure 2) and typically stays on the animal for between 2-4 hours.

Figure 3

After it pops off the whale, and floats to the surface, researchers retrieve it using a radio signal which provides location information (Figure 3).

Like the depth tags, the B-Probe records the animal’s depth as it dives. Beyond that, however, the B-Probe records sounds that the animal makes and hears as well as its orientation (pitch and roll). These data allow researchers to investigate details of the whales’ vocalizing, diving and feeding behavior on a scale of seconds rather than days.