Buoy to Help Better Understand Marine Mammal Distribution off Ocean City, MD

Off the coast of Maryland, many cetaceans can be found all year long. In order to quantify exactly how many, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Energy Administration, University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution collaborated to launch an oceanographic buoy that would record how many pass through the region.

This buoy works by recording auditory data with a hydrophone. Once recorded, the calls will be analyzed using an algorithm that determines if the calls is coming from a humpback, sei, fin or north Atlantic right whale. The data collected will be used when planning for offshore wind projects.

Click here to read the original article in the Southern Maryland Chronicle. Data collected from the buoy can be accessed here.