Cetaceans of the Offshore Pilbara
This morning, warm, dry air heralded the calm offshore Pilbara. Indeed, a very pleasant place to spend a day or two, as we transit south. All the sonobuoy deployments today had dwarf minke whale vocalisations and pygmy blue whale calls. By the mid afternoon, two sequences of three tall blows have us thinking we have a pygmy blue whale in our sights, 3.5 nm to port.
Pygmy blue whale calls look great on the screens, but they look even better in real life!
There are many things on our port side that serve to distract, namely the Kimberley, Rowley Shoals and now a pygmy blue whaleŠ I shall resist. Perhaps, I shall look ahead instead! Many pygmy blue whale calls detected on the acoustics remind me of these awesome creatures the largest animals on the planet.
With every recording of dwarf minke whales on our equipment, I can visualise these beautiful whales. This image taken at the Great Barrier Reef was taken by our colleague Wayne Osborn.
The towed array is in the water on our stern and high frequency dolphin sounds have been detected. Flying fish flit to and fro¹ across the bow as our vessel scares them from the water hurtling into the air. With a spectacular splash they take off and with a splashy, flourish they crash into the sea!
As well, the towed array targets high frequency sounds, the dolphins are squeaking!
With sonobuoys, both Barra and Difar, we are listening intently to the sea, across a broad range of frequencies.
Offshore of the Pilbara we make our way steadily southbound on a comfortable sea,
Mich
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