SCGIS & Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station

Whale-cam Cameras/Sensor Systems

OK, so the only part of this entry that is related to me is that I worked to schedule this behind-the-scenes tour with colleagues that work at the Marine Station. It’s not much on my part, but there is some very cool research going on in the world and I think it needs to be shared.  As a member of the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) I attend and present at their annual meeting on a regular basis.  This year, for the first time, we managed to organize a short trip to Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, the oldest marine field station on the west coast.  Ongoing research includes work on turtles, seaweed, and bluefin tuna. However, the coolest work of all is that by our tour guide, Max C. His work involves sneaking up to whales, quickly slapping on a suction cup camera/sensor system onto their backs and then recording whale behavior and environmental conditions surrounding the whales for the next 6-48 hours before the suction cups gives way and the camera sensor systems float to the ocean surface. Max and colleagues can record the physical mechanics of the whale swimming, how whales interact with other whales while feeding, and the temperature and pressure of the water surrounding the whale while it dives.  The video from these cameras was amazing.  The picture below is also linked to the some of the video.

Seeing how the sensor communicates its data to the computer

Whale-tail tales and sensor systems