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Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.

Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.
Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.
Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.
Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.
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175821
Canavan, James J.
Right whale detection mooring systems diagram for Boston shipping lanes application.
Illustration
05/09/2008
shipping_channel.jpg
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 47. No. 2, Pg. 21:
Ten auto-detection whale buoy systems line the Boston shipping lanes, each five miles from the next one so that the hydrophones' listening radii overlap. Data are relayed to a command-and-control center at Cornell, where analysts validate the presence of right whales and alert ships to slow down and watch for whales. Three other mooring systems monitor whales in Cape Cod Bay.
Image of The Day caption:
In an effort to avert lethal collisions between ships and endangered right whales, 10 buoy systems (purple dots) were installed in the Boston Harbor shipping lanes, beginning in 2007. Each has an underwater listening device, or hydrophone, to detect whale calls within a 5-mile radius (outer circles). The systems, developed by WHOI and Cornell University researchers, have a two-tiered mooring line: the top part can stretch 2? times its length without breaking in stormy seas; the bottom part stays still enough for the hydrophones to work. Data are relayed in real time, and if whales are detected, ships are alerted to slow down and watch for whales. The system was funded by Excelerate Energy, which built a deepwater port off Boston for liquefied natural gas. Three similar systems monitor whales in Cape Cod Bay.
Illustration by Jim Canavan
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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