Shazam for Whales Unveils Mysterious Whale Calls
Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Google have deployed AI to detect a mysterious sound in the Pacific Ocean, believed to be a Bryde’s whale call, likened to a “Shazam for whales,” is providing new insights into whale behavior.
In 2014, researchers detected a strange sound from the depths of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. The vocalization recognition, combined with metallic pings, puzzled scientists and left them searching for an explanation.
Commenting on this latest discovery, “Your average person would not think that it was made by an animal – they would think it was some ship or the [US] Navy,” says Ann Allen of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Unlocking the Biotwang Sound
With the help of AI, that mystery is now being solved. Today researchers identified the source of that strange noise, called “biotwang,” as Bryde’s whales.
Bryde’s whales, known for filtering vast amounts of krill and fish from the ocean, are elusive due to their constant movement. To track them, NOAA operates an extensive network of hydrophones that record underwater sounds. However, with over 180,000 hours of recordings to analyze, manually identifying whale calls proved impractical.
To make the process easier and provide more accuracy Allen teamed up with some Google researchers whose AI model, DeepSqueak known as Shazam for whales was designed to detect whale calls.
Discovering Oceanic Secret Through AI
The AI model was trained on the patterns of sounds by turning them into visual spectrogram images. Not very different from how the music app Shazam recognizes songs, this AI marine tool identified calls from eight whale species, including those from Bryde’s whales, proving the importance of AI in oceanography.
The AI model identifies effectively calls from humpback whales, blue whales, fin whales, North Pacific right whales, North Atlantic right whales, minke whales, killer whales, and Bryde’s whales. The AI soundtrack gave a signal that the biotwang sound is most common among a particular population of Bryde’s whales in the western Pacific.
How Climate Change Fits
AI analysis has also revealed that Bryde’s whales may be following the “transition zone chlorophyll front,” a prey-rich belt of plankton. However, climate change is causing this zone to shift, which in turn, affects the whales’ feeding patterns.
Marine research is unlocking new possibilities for using AI to better understand and protect marine life. By identifying and tracking elusive species like Bryde’s whales, scientists hope to gain deeper insights into their behavior and the environmental changes affecting their survival.
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