Passive acoustic detection of marine mammals

Abstract

A passive acoustic analysis of data recorded during the SACLANTCEN

SWAC4 sea-trial in Kyparissiakos Gulf during May 1996 was performed

with the specific objectives of detecting, localizing, and classifying marine mammal sounds. Detection and localization (bearing only) was performed using a passive sonar system in a playback mode and by an automatic detection algorithm for specific runs or run segments. The results of the automatic

detection processing allow association over time and bearing, creating 'events' that may then be classified by experts. This memorandum describes the preprocessing of the SWAC4 sea-trial data and the algorithm used to perform the automatic detection processing. The results of the automatic detection processing are then displayed in time-beam number plots and used to perform rough localization of detected events through triangulation.