A programmable acoustic recording tag and first results from free-ranging northern elephant seals

A hydrophone-equipped tag recorded exposure to noise, as well as physiological and behavioral sounds, on free-ranging northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). The compact acoustic probe (CAP) consisted of the hydrophone, a thermistor, and a pressure transducer in a 36 cm long, 10 cm diameter cylindrical hydrodynamic housing capable of withstanding 2000 m depth. The enclosed logging electronics included a programmable “TattleTale 7” data acquisition engine and a 340 Mb hard disk. A custom low-power operating system supported multi-channel interrupt-driven sampling at 5 kHz. The complete tag weighed 0.9 kg in water and displaced 2.1 l. During five deployments on juveniles translocated from and returning to Año Nuevo, California, CAP tags measured dive pattern, ambient and vessel noise exposure, oceanographic ranging (RAFOS) and thermometry (ATOC) beacons, acoustic signatures of swim stroke, surface respiration, and cardiac function, and possible vocalizations.