GRIIDC | R4.x261.000:0021

Dataset Available

Calculating sperm whale lengths from passive acoustic data using Matlab

Authors: George Drouant

Published On: Apr 28 2020 16:34 UTC

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-2pr4-4754

UDI: R4.x261.000:0021

Files

Individual Files

No. of Downloads: 2

No. of Files: 7

File Size: 53.68 KB

File Format(s):
M, xlsx, docx

Project Information

Funded By:
Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Funding Cycle:
RFP-IV

Research Group:
Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center - Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM)

Point of Contact

George Drouant
University of New Orleans / Department of Physics
george_drouant@yahoo.com

Theme keywords

sperm whale, IPI length calculation, wavelet technique, Gordon and Growcott equations, echolocation IPI, inter-pulse interval (IPI), Pyseter catodon, sperm whale length, passive acoustic measurements

ISO 19115-2 Metadata

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Abstract:

This dataset contains Matlab code used to estimate the length of sperm whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Five scripts reading in EARS buoy passive acoustic buoy data, identify echolocation clicks and form an average click for a recording, subset the identified clicks for quality, and calculate the inter-pulse interval (IPI) of echolocation clicks using wavelet techniques. The equations of Gordon (1991) and Growcott et al. (2011) were used to calculate the lengths of the whales from the IPIs. The dataset includes a ReadMe document which describes each script and provides additional information on running them. Also included is an Excel template for the final calculation of body length.

Suggested Citation:

George Drouant. 2020. Calculating sperm whale lengths from passive acoustic data using Matlab. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-2pr4-4754

Purpose:

The calculation of sperm whale lengths in order to further analyze population dynamics within the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Data Parameters and Units:

File name, Inter-pulse interval [# samples between pulses], inter-pulse interval [milliseconds], sperm whale length [m], day (yearday file was recorded), hour (of recording), minute (of recording), seconds (of recording), decimal yearday, the fraction of day [decimal yearday - yearday].

Methods:

Matlab code to identify sperm whale clicks in passive acoustic data and estimate individual sperm whale lengths based on inter-pulse intervals of echolocation clicks.

Provenance and Historical References:

Gordon, Jonathan C.D. (1991). Evaluation of a method for determining the length of sperm whales (Physeter catodon) from their vocalizations. Journal of Zoology 224(2):301 - 314. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04807.x Growcott A., B. Biller, P. Sirguey, E. Slooten, and S. Dawson (2011). Measuring body length of male sperm whales from their clicks: the relationship between inter-pulse intervals and photogrammetrically measured lengths. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Jul;130(1):568-73. doi: 10.1121/1.3578455