CFF and Acbotics Research Field-Test New Ocean-Monitoring Tools off Cape Cod

Earlier this month, CFF and Acbotics Research teamed up to deploy underwater cameras, sondes, hydrophone arrays, and eDNA samplers off Cape Cod to better understand coastal ecology in relation to seal populations and vessel traffic.

Two underwater landers fitted with multi-channel hydrophone arrays, temperature, salinity, and pressure sensors were deployed for approximately 24 hours and eDNA samples were collected both mornings at multiple depths. 

The acoustic tracks show where and when different sounds occur in the environment, with the objective of tracking animals such as seals. Ships can also be tracked in this data, showing where boats are traveling during the deploy window, and an onboard camera gives a landers-eye view of animals that happen to come past. 

The collected eDNA samples provide information on the entire ecological web, including everything from bacteria to fish to mammals.

In addition, the CFF Fisherman's Sonde was deployed to collect depth-dependent environmental parameters including pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature along with power spectral density information on underwater sound. 

Together, acoustics, environmental sensing, and eDNA provide a snapshot of the environment and ecology, with insight into the complex interplay of the environment, boats, seals, fish, and other organisms in the waters off Chatham, MA.

Thanks to Will Ligenza of the Small Stuff for hosting us for these two days sampling on the water!

Acbotics Research Website

Watch this playful behind-the-scenes video clip

Acbotics' work is supported in part by  @National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with Martin Siderius of Portland State University, Mohsen Badiey of University of Delaware, and Holly Bik of University of Georgia.