Sounds of the Southern Ocean 2006: Explorers
Del Bohnenstiehl
Marine Geophysicist
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University
Del Bohnenstiehl uses seafloor mapping and passive underwater acoustics to explorer remote ocean areas. Understanding submarine earthquakes and their association with volcanic, tectonic and hydrothermal processes has been the main focus of his research. Other interests include the use of underwater acoustics in support of a Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty and the monitoring of ice-generated noise within the Antarctic. Del holds a BS in Geology from Eastern Illinois University (1995), a MS in Geology from Vanderbilt University (1998) and a Ph.D. in Marine Geology and Geophysics from Columbia University (2002). After several years as a lecturer at Columbia University, Del has recently moved to North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences—one of the largest interdisciplinary physical science departments in the nation.
Dr. Robert Dziak
Geophysicist
Oregon State University and Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA
Principal Investigator, Sounds of the Southern Ocean
As the principal investigator for the Sounds of the Southern Ocean Project, Dr. Dziak is responsible for the planning, logistics and coordination of the numerous resources and agencies (both national and international) required for this experiment. He has served as a principal investigator within the VENTS Program of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory since July 1995, and leads the Acoustic Monitoring Project, a diversified program in marine geophysics and underwater acoustics that utilizes the U.S. Navy's Sound Surveillance System for environmental applications. Dr. Dziak is also an Associate Professor (research) at Oregon State University in the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resource Studies. He received a BS in geology and mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1985, an MS in Geophysics from the University of Memphis in 1988, and a PhD in Geosciences from Oregon State University in 1997. Dr Dziak has been named a Presidential Young Investigator (2000) and a Fulbright Scholar (1999) in recognition of his efforts in using hydroacoustic techniques to detect seafloor earthquake and volcanic activity throughout the world’s oceans. Dr. Dziak’s work was highlighted by Discover magazine as one of the top 100 science discoveries of 2004.
Joe Haxel
Research Assistant, Technician
Oregon State University and NOAA/ Pacific Marine Environmental Lab
After earning a B.S. in geology from UC Santa Barbara (1997) and an M.S. in oceanography from Oregon State University (2001), Joe Haxel joined the Vents Acoustics group as a researcher and sea-going technician in 2001. He has participated in marine acoustic projects around the world and enjoys being a part of investigations making new scientific discoveries in remote areas of the deep ocean. He is involved in all aspects of the Vents acoustic monitoring project from building and deploying instruments, to processing and analyzing recovered hydroacoustic data. His interests include geophysical patterns in marine seismicity rates and the ambient noise fields in the world’s oceans.
Haru Matsumoto, Ph. D
CIMRS/NOAA, Oregon State University, Newport, OR
CoPI in Sound in the Southern Oceans 2005
Research Associate
Haru Matsumoto, born and raised in Matsuyama, Japan, came to the USA in 1976 as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii and studied ocean engineering. He was an acoustic engineer at side-scan sonar survey group, SeaMARCII, in Hawaii and had been an interim manager of the same group. He joined CIMRS/NOAA in Newport, Oregon in 1991. He has involved in developments of several other sonar systems including an autonomous hydrophone system, often referred to as HARU-phone (Hydrophone for Acoustic Research in Underwater), which has been the tool for a long-term monitoring of underwater acoustic events related to seismicity and marine mammal calls. Currently 17 of them are still in operation in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans collecting data approximately 1GB/day. Other systems he is developing are: a tether-free semi-real-time hydrophone float (QUEphone) and a WIreless hydrophone BuoY (WIBY). His research interest includes signal processing, acoustic imaging, back scatter, propagation modeling, synthetic aperture and array design. He enjoys playing tennis and classical guitar.
Kate Stafford
Oceanographer
Applied Physics Lab
University of Washington
Kate Stafford has been studying the sounds of large whales for the past 10 years. Her focus has primarily been on baleen whales in the North Pacific with a special emphasis on the Gulf of Alaska region but she has worked in, or with data from, all the world's oceans. Her research interests include geographic variation in blue whale sounds worldwide, seasonal and geographic patterns in baleen whale vocalizations from long-term hydrophone arrays and more recently, vocal behavior of Aleutian killer whales. Because she is certifiably insane, this expedition is the culmination of a year of globe trotting to record whale sounds including voyages to the East Antarctic, Australia, the Aleutians and western Greenland.
