Revolutionizing marine conversation

Can light help us hear whales?

Dr. Shima Abadi, professor in the School of STEM, and fellow researchers from UW’s School of Oceanography are using a groundbreaking approach to monitor endangered marine species on a large scale. By leveraging Distributed Acoustic Sensing — technology that turns fiber optic cables into vast networks of underwater microphones — they can capture real-time acoustic data.

This October they deployed fiber optic cable off the coast of the San Juan Islands to demonstrate the global potential that thousands of miles of existing fiber optic cable offer for revolutionizing marine conversation.

Read the full UW Bothell story “Using light to hear the whales.”

Learn more about Dr. Abadi’s ongoing research, DAS and even listen to and visualize different orca vocalizations.