January 7, 2020 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium and the Massachusetts-based engineering firm Draper are teaming up to save the whales. The researchers are weaving together a myriad of data in order to create a probability map of where whales might travel to and why. Knowing where whales go can help scientists better understand the environmental conditions that most impact the various species, reports 90.9 WBUR.
Changing water temperatures, for example, can shift where populations of krill, plankton, and fish—common food sources for whales—may go. Shipping lanes can also impact how whale populations travel: From 2010 to 2014, there were 37 reported ship strikes along the east coast of Canada and the U.S. and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to NOAA Fisheries data. Recent evidence has suggested that the ocean is getting noisier, which can stress whales and alter their behavior. (Luckily, groups like the U.S. Navy are taking note.)
In order to track these whales, the team plans to tap reliable sources of sonar, radar and satellite data to keep a watchful eye on our planet’s largest mammals. Eventually, the team hopes to input this data—collected from European Space Agency satellites to amateur radio operators—into an algorithm that will process that data and then track whales’ movements.