bioacoustics 99jan 8 Jan to 12 Feb 1999 There were several types of bioacoustic transects conducted with a towed 120 kHz transducer (BioSonics) during the annual January cruise. A. at ship speed 2.0 to 2.5 kts 1) Discrete acoustic transects were done at each station simultaneously with the 2-M and 1-M net tows, for the 200.*, 300.*, 400.*, 500.* and 600.* cardinal lines. The 2-M net tow and bioacoustic transect combination was repeated 3 weeks later for the 300.* and 600.* lines. 2) Palmer nearshore transect A-E and F-J. B. At ship speed 4.0 to 4.5 kts 1) Continuous acoustic transects simultaneously with seabird observations over high density grid 1 as established in Jan 1995. 2) Continuous acoustic transects between stations along the cardinal lines simultaneously with seabird observations when daylight adequate, on all 5 cardinal lines 3) Continuous acoustic transects offshore (500.220 to 377.200) and inshore (300.040 to 500.060) simultaneously with seabird observations when daylight adequate A. An event_bld.list gives details of time and location for all acoustic transects, with links to the rest of the data collected through the event number. The ten variables in the event-bld.list are: Event.number Start.time (GMT) End.time (GMT) Start.Date (mmddyy GMT) TVG-Corr Flag (correct for 40logR operation if done) Palmer LTER grid location (xxx.yyy where xxx is the alongshore transect line id and yyy is the on/offshore station id) Start.Latitude (°S) Start.Longitude (°W) End.Latitude (°S) End.Longitude (°W) For transects conducted simultaneously with net tows, the Palmer Grid location is the center of the transect. For continuous transects, the Palmer Grid location is the beginning of the segment of the transect. B. The calibration files give the calibration constants: Variables are: BeamPatternFactor Rcvr1_G120logR Rcvr1_G140logR Rcvr2_G120logR Rcvr2_G140logR Rcvr3_G120logR SrcLevel_at0dB SrcLevel_at-3dB SrcLevel_at-6dB SrcLevel_at-10dB SrcLevel_at-13dB 20/40CrossoverPt There were a total of 239 bioacoustic events (computer files exist for 237 events) in 99Jan. Two events exist on DAT tapes.. One short (1.7-2 km) acoustic transect was conducted in conjunction with 2-m net tows at each Palmer LTER station occupied during the cruise. Station spacing was 20 km along the cardinal lines. There were two target tows with accompanying acoustic transects. The high density (HD) foraging grid, 10 by 20 km with the longer distance moving offshore, is within the foraging range of the Adelie penguins nesting at Palmer Station. During the HD grid, 10 km transects spaced 2.5 km apart were run, connected by short 2.5 km transects. The HD grid was started on one day (Jan 22) but postponed due to weather, and completed once (Jan24&25, 27 events). The two Palmer nearshore transects (Pal J-F and Pal A-E) were done at the beginning, middle and end of the cruise, three times for A-E and four times for J-F. The Palmer LTER uses Biosonics equipment and software to collect hydroacoustic data, and to do the preliminary processing on board. (1) collection of data The acoustic system consists of a BioSonics Model 102 echo sounder connected to a downward looking 120 kHz transducer which was deployed with a tow body several meters below the surface. The towbody was deployed with the research vessels Laurence M. Gould. The sounder was operated with a 20 log R (R = range in m) time-varied-gain (TVG) function to compensate for one-way acoustic spreading loss. (2) archival process The analog voltage signals received by the echosounder are processed in the field through an interface tape unit that records a digitized version of each signal onto a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. The DAT tapes can be replayed with the Biosonics Echo Signal Processing (ESP) software package for calculation of Sum Squared Voltage (SSV) data if a file is lost or if a different configuration file is desired. (3) primary processing of data: Echo integration of the returned acoustic energy (volts) was done with the BioSonics Model 221 Echo Signal Processor, and ESP version 3 on a Dec 486 computer on board. The system was configured to integrate voltage measurements over 2-m depth intervals and several pings. These integrated values were used to generate a two-dimensional (alongtrack, vertical) matrix of volume scattering data (VSD, m3 m-3) for each acoustic transect, according to algorithms described in Apprendix C of BioSonics. When in deep water (>200 m) data was collected without a bottom algorithm. In shallow water, a bottom algorithm was used to automatically separate the bottom and biotic signal. (4) calibration of the system was done by BioSonics ( Seattle, WA) in a tank at ambient temperature. Calibration was done for each of the six deck and tow cable combinations. The calibrations bracketing the use of the equipment were done on July 30, 1998 and August 3, 1999. There were only small differences in the calibrations. During 99Jan, the NewDeck/NewTow cable combination was used exclusively. The Deck cables are 100' long, the Tow cables 218' long - New Deck (S/N#141-94-870) - New Tow (S/N#147-94-156) - Old Deck (S/N#141-92-740) - Old Tow (S/N#147-92-137) Acoustic transects on stations were conducted within 4 hours of the time other LTER data sets were collected. Each of these acoustic transects was matched with a net tow to allow identification of potential scatterers and the size distribution of Euphausia superba, the dominant scatterer. The high density grid was run continuously and at a higher speed to accommodate the requirements of the seabird observers. The high density grid is conducted during presumed peak penguin chick growth periods. Antarctic krill are usually the dominant sound scatterer in the Palmer LTER region, but other euphausiid species and pteropods also occur over much of the mesoscale grid. During 99Jan salps were also present across the entire grid. Test trials are not included. bioacoustics, antarctic krill, palmer lter 1) event_bld.list ascii, space delimited (number of columns)! 99jan and identifying information rows with column headers and the units of the parameter data follow 2) calibration files ascii, space delimited 3) VSD acoustic matrix for each event binary file with results from echo integration of the voltage returning to the echo sounder. the data stored is mean voltage squared for each depth strata and ping. The event_bld.list and calibration files are in: ~lter/data/99jan/bioacoustics Velella on the MSILTER Apple talk network The VSD files are stored on a hard disk off line until room is available on line. They may be accessed by contacting Karen Baker, data manager for the Palmer LTER. (1) event_bld.list (2) acoCalib.* files named: acoCalib.(date of calibration)(cable combination) (3) rawdata/(event#).dat the VSD acoustic matrix for each transect is named by the event Robin M. Ross, Langdon B. Quetin none Robin M. Ross, Langdon B. Quetin RM Ross, CT Shaw, J Kneebone, K Grimm, J Smith, L Coe RM Ross and LB Quetin RM Ross and team RM Ross rawdata in January and February 1999 event_bld.list, acoCalib files and documentation 1 June 2001 BioSonics (1990) BioSonics Echo Signal Processor Operators Manual. BioSonics, Inc., Seattle, WA, 373 pp. Lascara (1996) Seasonal and mesoscale variability in the distribution of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Ph. D. Thesis, Old Dominion University. 167 pp. Lascara, CM, EE Hofmann, RM Ross, LB Quetin (1999) Seasonal variability in the distribution of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Deep-Sea Res. 46: 951-984. Greene, C. H., T. K. Stanton, P. H. Wiebe and S. McClatchie (1991) Acoustic estimates of Antarctic krill. Nature 349: 110. Nero, R. W. and J. J. Magnuson (1989) Characterization of patches along transects using high resolution 70 kHz integrated acoustic data. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 46: 2056-2064. Wiebe, P. H., C. H. Greene, T. K. Stanton and J. Burczynski (1990) Sound scattering by live zooplankton and micronekton: empirical studies with a dual-beam acoustical system. Journal of Acoustical Society of America 88: 2346-2360.

Datafile Form V1.2 for describing a data file.