A closeup of a hydrophone detector. One of these situated at the end of each arm of the array.
Measurement
Detects sound between 4 and 100kHz using three hydrophones.
Description
The hydrophone array was designed by the Instrument Development Group at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. The system provides information on both the environmental underwater acoustical sound field (e.g., from wind and rain) and the direction to individual sound sources, such as vocalizing marine mammals and boats. Three hydrophones are mounted 120 degrees apart on 6-metre arms.
The user can configure the system to monitor one, two, or all three hydrophones at fixed gain settings chosen by the user or by using a built-in Automatic Gain Control (AGC) algorithm. The operator can also choose the acoustical bandwidth of any hydrophone at settings between 4 and 100 kHz. The data can be uploaded from the underwater unit as raw 16-bit data or as averaged power spectra.
Contact
Richard Dewey, Associate Director, Research
