Double breach video
One of the Beam Reach students, Ryan Spragg, captured this double breach on video today:
It’s a notable clip in part because we were towing 4 hydrophones at the time, one of which is calibrated and sensitive up to about 50kHz. Another student, Lindsay Delp, will use the recorded underwater sounds of the breaches to compute the source levels (after she determines the ranges from the calibrated hydrophone to the percussive sounds).If she succeeds, this could be the first time that the “loudness” of such magnificent breaches is determined. The measurement may help us decide whether breaches (and other percussive behaviors like tail lobs and pectoral fin slaps) have a communicative function or not.
The first spring Beam Reach program is nearing completion. Don’t miss learning about how loud breaches are — along with other interesting recent findings — at the final presentations at Friday Harbor labs this June, 7, 2008. If you can’t make it in person, final papers and talks will be available at the students’ home page — http://beamreach.org/081
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