Tracking Fin Whales With Seismometers Provides 'Incredibly Rich' Data

To better understand the movements and behaviors of the world's biggest creatures, researchers at University of Washington have turned to an instrument normally used to measure the world itself.

Despite their size, whales are some of the least understood animals on Earth. Their global range and sheer mass makes them difficult to study. But understanding whale's swimming behaviors and feeding habits is of great interest to conservationists who want to keep whale populations healthy.

A novel approach to studying whales is being employed by researchers at the University of Washington, who are increasingly turning to seafloor seismometers for information. Seismometers record vibrations and are typically used to measure earthquakes.

Off the coast of Washington state, researchers studying fin whales - the world's second largest creature, behind the blue whale - used seismometers to monitor the whales. But the project was originally intended to monitor tremors in the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a seismically active zone more than a mile deep off the Washington coast.

William Willcock, a professor of oceanography at UW said at first the fin whale calls were more of a nuisance because they overlapped the seismic data researchers were initially trying to record.

"Over the winter months we recorded a lot of earthquakes, but we also had an awful lot of fin-whale calls," he said in a satement.

But it soon became clear that there was useful data revealed by the recorded fin whale calls.

Analyzing fin whale calls picked up by eight different seismometers, researches distinguished 154 individual fin whale paths.

"We'd like to know where the fin whales are at any given time and how their presence might be linked to food availability, ocean conditions and seafloor geology," said Michelle Weirathmueller, a UW doctoral student in oceanography. "This is an incredibly rich dataset that can start to pull together the information we need to link the fin whales with their deep-ocean environments."

Listen to a fin whale call here: