During ODP Leg 138, we tested a prototype instrument, developed
at Oregon State University, for measuring light reflectance in 511
channels of the visible and near-infrared bands. The technique of
reflectance spectroscopy has been used for some time in chemistry
and mineralogy (e.g., Hunt, 1977; Gaffey, 1986) and has found...
Advances in mobile autonomous vehicles for oceanographic sensing provide new opportunities for passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammals. Acoustically equipped mobile autonomous platforms, including gliders, deep-water profiling floats, and drifting surface buoys can survey for a variety of marine mammal species over intermediate spatiotemporal scales. Additionally, such mobile platforms may...
Monitoring marine ambient sound using standardized methods supports assessments of ocean sound levels across widespread ecosystems. This thesis quantifies differences among coastal and deep-water marine soundscapes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The sources of sound in a soundscape are compartmentalized into three components and compared over time and among...
During January–February 2009, an active-source seismic survey was performed over the Eastern Lau Spreading Center in the Lau Back-Arc Basin (21°S, 176°S). Acoustic signals generated by the R/V Langseth's 36-gun pneumatic source array were recorded within the deep sound channel at offsets of 29–416 km. The local ocean acoustic environment...
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a widely distributed baleen whale species, well known for their diverse acoustic behavior. On high-latitude foraging grounds, humpback whales produce a suite of non-song vocalizations (“calls”) in concert with foraging and social behavior. In this dissertation I investigated the role of calls in the acoustic...
The Humboldt marten, Martes americana humboldtensis, has undergone a dramatic decline throughout its historical distribution in coastal Northwestern California. There is currently only one known population occupying an area occurring in <5% of the historical distribution of the subspecies. Conservation and management efforts to benefit this population are hampered by...
Sediment spectral reflectance measurements were generated aboard the JOIDES Resolution during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 162 shipboard operations. The large size of the raw data set (over 1.3 gigabytes) and limited computer hard disk storage space precluded detailed analysis of the data at sea, although broad band averages were used...
Since the early 1950's, the distribution of sediment at the
mouth of Redwood Creek has been altered by the effects of channel
aggradation and channelization along the lower reach. Severe flooding
in 1953, 1955, and 1964 caused bank erosion, landsliding, and
channel geometry changes along Redwood Creek. The increased sediment...
Research on cetacean foraging ecology is central to our understanding of their spatial and behavioral ecology. Yet, functional mechanisms by which cetaceans detect prey across different scales remain unclear. Here, I postulate that cetaceans utilize a scale-dependent, multimodal sensory system to assess and increase prey encounters. I review the literature...