From 1998 to 2001, of acoustic recordings were made in the presence of the well-studied St. Lawrence population of blue whales, using a calibrated omnidirectional hydrophone [flat response from ] suspended at depth from a surface isolation buoy. The primary field site for this study was the estuary region of the St. Lawrence River (Québec, Canada), with most recordings made between mid-August and late October. During the recordings, detailed field notes were taken on all cetaceans within sight. Characterization of the more than 1000 blue whale calls detected during this study revealed that the St. Lawrence repertoire is much more extensive than previously reported. Three infrasonic and three audible range call types were detected, with much time/frequency variation seen within each type. Further variation is seen in the form of call segmentation, which appears (through examination of Lloyd’s Mirror interference effects) to be controlled at least partially by the whales. Although St. Lawrence blue whale call characteristics are similar to those of the North Atlantic, comparisons of phrase composition and spacing among studies suggest the possibility of population dialects within the North Atlantic.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
October 2006
October 01 2006
St. Lawrence blue whale vocalizations revisited: Characterization of calls detected from 1998 to 2001
Catherine L. Berchok;
Catherine L. Berchok
a)
Graduate Program in Acoustics,
The Pennsylvania State University
, P. O. Box 30
, State College, Pennsylvania, 16804-0030
Search for other works by this author on:
David L. Bradley;
David L. Bradley
Applied Research Laboratory,
The Pennsylvania State University
, P. O. Box 30
, State College, Pennsylvania, 16804-0030
Search for other works by this author on:
Thomas B. Gabrielson
Thomas B. Gabrielson
Applied Research Laboratory,
The Pennsylvania State University
, P. O. Box 30
, State College, Pennsylvania, 16804-0030
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Current address: Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 291 Rosecrans Street, San Diego, California, 92106. Electronic mail: cberchok@ucsd.edu
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 120, 2340–2354 (2006)
Article history
Received:
December 11 2005
Accepted:
July 18 2006
Citation
Catherine L. Berchok, David L. Bradley, Thomas B. Gabrielson; St. Lawrence blue whale vocalizations revisited: Characterization of calls detected from 1998 to 2001. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 2006; 120 (4): 2340–2354. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2335676
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
Vowel signatures in emotional interjections and nonlinguistic vocalizations expressing pain, disgust, and joy across languages
Maïa Ponsonnet, Christophe Coupé, et al.
The alveolar trill is perceived as jagged/rough by speakers of different languages
Aleksandra Ćwiek, Rémi Anselme, et al.
A survey of sound source localization with deep learning methods
Pierre-Amaury Grumiaux, Srđan Kitić, et al.
Related Content
Automatic recognition of fin and blue whale calls for real-time monitoring in the St. Lawrence
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (December 2009)
St. Lawrence blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) vocalizations
J Acoust Soc Am (October 2002)
Decadal passive acoustics time series of St. Lawrence estuary beluga
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (March 2020)
A threatened beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population in the traffic lane: Vessel-generated noise characteristics of the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, Canada
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (December 2011)
Clicks from Cuvier’s beaked whales, Ziphius cavirostris (L)
J Acoust Soc Am (July 2002)