How scientists are saving whales by listening to the ocean

Move over, whale watchers. Melville has arrived.

This is a more affordable way to track whales.
(Image credit: iStock)

Recently, New Yorkers were surprised and charmed by the sight of a vagabond whale taking what seemed to be an inter-borough tour of Manhattan's waterways. But for scientists, it's no surprise that there are whales in the waters that surround New York. It turns out that the New York Bight, an area of water that runs from Montauk to just south of Atlantic City, is full of whales — and researchers have a new way of detecting the rarest of these beautiful behemoths.

Meet Melville, an acoustic buoy located 22 mile south of Fire Island. Melville is the most sophisticated buoy of its kind. "We're kind of on the bleeding edge of real-time [whale] detection," says Mark Baumgartner of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which developed the software for Melville.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Erin Blakemore

Erin Blakemore is a journalist from Boulder, Colorado. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Time, Smithsonian.com, mental_floss, Popular Science and more.