Jennifer Miksis-Olds | |
---|---|
Academic background | |
Education | Harvard University (AB) University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (MS) University of Rhode Island (PhD) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Biology |
Sub-discipline | Marine biology |
Jennifer Miksis-Olds is an American marine scientist known for her research using acoustics to track marine mammals.
Miksis-Olds received an A.B. in biology from Harvard University (1996),and during this time she volunteered in a primate lab which she credits as her introduction to acoustics. [1] Miksis-Olds has an M.S. in biology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (2000) [2] and spent time as a guest student at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1996–2004). She obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in 2006,where she studied the connections between sound and manatees. [3]
After her graduate work,Miksis-Olds worked at Pennsylvania State University from 2007 until 2016,when she moved to the University of New Hampshire. [4] She is currently the director of the Center for Acoustics Research and Education at the University of New Hampshire. [5]
In 2016,Miksis-Olds was elected a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, [6] "for contributions to underwater acoustic noise research and the integration of acoustics into marine ecology".
From 2016 to 2018,Miksis-Olds was on the scientific committee of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, [7] a group of researchers working on ocean soundscapes and how sound impacts marine organisms. Miksis-Olds is also on the board at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership where her term ends in October 2021. [8]
Miksis-Olds' graduate research characterized the pattern of sound production from manatees [9] and measured sound levels in grassbeds inhabited by manatees which revealed that,all else being equal,manatees opt for grassbeds with lower noise levels. [10] Miksis-Olds' research determined that manatees increase their activity in the presence of sounds similar to boats [11] and they alter their behavior with periods of higher sound levels connected to increased feeding activity. [12]
Miksis-Olds has used sound to track the location of marine mammals in the ocean. In the Arctic,Miksis-Olds developed and deployed low power sampling devices to provide data on the presence of whales [13] and she has a decade-long data set tracking different species of marine mammals in the Bering Sea. [14] Miksis-Olds has also used acoustic methods to track seals in the Bering Sea where she connected the presence or absence of seals with the amount of sea ice. [15] Using hydrophone data from the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty International Monitoring System,Miksis-Olds estimated the biodiversity in the near-field vicinity of three hydrophones. [16] The data are from hydrophones that are part of the system used for monitoring for nuclear explosions and Susan Parks,Miksis-Olds,and Samuel Denes developed a metric that uses sound to assess biodiversity and found correlations between their metric and the number of whale calls around the hydrophones. [16]
Miksis-Olds examines soundscapes in the ocean,particularly the combination of ambient sound and sound produced by people,to define how marine mammals respond to changes in sound [17] and was part of a collaboration that identified an increase in sound levels in the Indian Ocean [18] which can have a negative impact on marine mammals. [19] [20]
During the COVID-19 pandemic,Miksis-Olds and others have been expanding the global network of hydrophones that can track changes in ambient sound in the ocean. [21] [22] Miksis-Olds is leading the development of software that will allow researchers to share and analyze the data being generated by this network of hydrophones. [23] [24] [25] [26]
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases,liquids,and solids including topics such as vibration,sound,ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics technology may be called an acoustical engineer. The application of acoustics is present in almost all aspects of modern society with the most obvious being the audio and noise control industries.
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate,measure distances (ranging),communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of the water,such as other vessels.
Noise pollution,or sound pollution,is the propagation of noise or sound with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life,most of which are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines,transport and propagation systems. Poor urban planning may give rise to noise disintegration or pollution,side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas. Some of the main sources of noise in residential areas include loud music,transportation,lawn care maintenance,construction,electrical generators,wind turbines,explosions and people.
Blainville's beaked whale,or the dense-beaked whale,is believed to be the widest ranging mesoplodont whale. The French zoologist Henri de Blainville first described the species in 1817 from a small piece of jaw —the heaviest bone he had ever come across —which resulted in the name densirostris. Off the northeastern Bahamas,the animals are particularly well documented,and a photo identification project started sometime after 2002.
The harbour porpoise is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies,it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries,and as such,is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers,and has been seen hundreds of kilometres from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic,with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races:P. p. phocoena in the North Atlantic and West Africa,P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov,an unnamed population in the northwestern Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeastern Pacific.
Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production,dispersion and reception in animals. This involves neurophysiological and anatomical basis of sound production and detection,and relation of acoustic signals to the medium they disperse through. The findings provide clues about the evolution of acoustic mechanisms,and from that,the evolution of animals that employ them.
Whales use a variety of sounds for communication and sensation. The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals,including whales,dolphins,and porpoises,are much more dependent on sound than land mammals due to the limited effectiveness of other senses in water. Sight is less effective for marine mammals because of the way particulates in the ocean scatter light. Smell is also limited,as molecules diffuse more slowly in water than in air,which makes smelling less effective. However,the speed of sound is roughly four times greater in water than in the atmosphere at sea level. As sea mammals are so dependent on hearing to communicate and feed,environmentalists and cetologists are concerned that they are being harmed by the increased ambient noise in the world's oceans caused by ships,sonar and marine seismic surveys.
Bloop was an ultra-low-frequency,high amplitude underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997. By 2012,earlier speculation that the sound originated from a marine animal was replaced by NOAA's description of the sound as being consistent with noises generated via non-tectonic cryoseisms originating from glacial movements such as ice calving,or through seabed gouging by ice.
Acoustic ecology,sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape studies,is a discipline studying the relationship,mediated through sound,between human beings and their environment. Acoustic ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Murray Schafer a musician,composer and former professor of communication studies at Simon Fraser University with the help of his team there as part of the World Soundscape Project. The original WSP team included Barry Truax and Hildegard Westerkamp,Bruce Davies and Peter Huse,among others. The first study produced by the WSP was titled The Vancouver Soundscape. This innovative study raised the interest of researchers and artists worldwide,creating enormous growth in the field of acoustic ecology. In 1993,the members of the by now large and active international acoustic ecology community formed the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
Whitlow W. L. Au was a leading expert in bioacoustics specializing in biosonar of odontocetes. He is author of the widely known book The Sonar of Dolphins (1993) and,with Mardi Hastings,Principles of Marine Bioacoustics (2008). Au was honored as a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America in 1990 and awarded the ASA's first Silver Medal in Animal Bioacoustics in 1998. He was graduate advisor to MacArthur Fellow Kelly Benoit-Bird,who credits Au for discovering how sophisticated dolphin sonar is,developing dolphin-inspired machine sonars to separate different species of fish with the goal of protecting sensitive species,and for making numerous contributions to the description of Humpback whale song,which helped protect these whales from ship noise and ship traffic.
Ocean acoustic tomography is a technique used to measure temperatures and currents over large regions of the ocean. On ocean basin scales,this technique is also known as acoustic thermometry. The technique relies on precisely measuring the time it takes sound signals to travel between two instruments,one an acoustic source and one a receiver,separated by ranges of 100–5,000 kilometres (54–2,700 nmi). If the locations of the instruments are known precisely,the measurement of time-of-flight can be used to infer the speed of sound,averaged over the acoustic path. Changes in the speed of sound are primarily caused by changes in the temperature of the ocean,hence the measurement of the travel times is equivalent to a measurement of temperature. A 1 °C (1.8 °F) change in temperature corresponds to about 4 metres per second (13 ft/s) change in sound speed. An oceanographic experiment employing tomography typically uses several source-receiver pairs in a moored array that measures an area of ocean.
Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water,its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean,a lake,a river or a tank. Typical frequencies associated with underwater acoustics are between 10 Hz and 1 MHz. The propagation of sound in the ocean at frequencies lower than 10 Hz is usually not possible without penetrating deep into the seabed,whereas frequencies above 1 MHz are rarely used because they are absorbed very quickly.
The ASA Silver Medal is an award presented by the Acoustical Society of America to individuals,without age limitation,for contributions to the advancement of science,engineering,or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles or through research accomplishments in acoustics. The medal is awarded in a number of categories depending on the technical committee responsible for making the nomination.
An autonomous recording unit (ARU) is a self-contained audio recording device that is deployed in marine or terrestrial environments for bioacoustical monitoring. The unit is used in both marine and terrestrial environments to track the behavior of animals and monitor their ecosystems. On a terrestrial level,the ARU can detect noises coming from bird habitats and determine relative emotions that each bird conveys along with the population of the birds and the relative vulnerability of the ecosystem. The ARU can also be used to understand noises made by marine life to see how the animals' communication affects the operation of their ecosystem. When underwater,the ARU can track the sound that human made machines make and see the effect those sounds have on marine life ecosystems. Up to 44 work days can be saved through the utilization of ARU's,along with their ability to discover more species.
JASCO Applied Sciences provides scientific consulting services and equipment related to underwater acoustics. JASCO operates from 7 international locations and provides services to the oil and gas,marine construction,energy,renewable energy,fisheries,maritime transport and defence sectors. The head office is located in Halifax,NS Canada. JASCO employs acousticians,bioacousticians,physicists,marine mammal scientists,engineers,technologists,and project managers.
The Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics Medal is awarded by the Acoustical Society of America in recognition of "an outstanding contribution to the science of underwater acoustics,as evidenced by publication of research results in professional journals or by other accomplishments in the field". The award was named in honor of H. J. W. Fay,Reginald Fessenden,Harvey Hayes,G. W. Pierce,and Paul Langevin.
Christine Erbe is a German-Australian physicist specializing in underwater acoustics. She is a professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and director of the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST)—both at Curtin University in Perth,Western Australia. Erbe is known for her research on acoustic masking in marine mammals,investigating how man-made underwater noise interferes with animal acoustic communication.
Susan Parks is an ecologist at Syracuse University known for her research on acoustic signaling and the impact of ambient noise on communication in marine mammals.
The International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE) is a global scientific research program aimed at improving understanding of the distributions of sounds in the ocean,and studying the effects of underwater noise pollution on marine life. The program has worked on promoting research,observations,and modelling to advance understanding of ocean soundscapes and the effects of sound on marine organisms. The IQOE was launched in 2015 by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO). The program comprises an international consortium of scientists,industry partners,and governmental organizations working together to further understanding of the impact of underwater noise on the ocean environment.