RV Investigator TEMPO Voyage: 460 Hours of Antarctic Sonobuoy Recordings

251 sonobuoys deployed during the 2021 TEMPO survey captured approximately 460 hours of underwater acoustic recordings and Antarctic krill 3D coordinates. The Marine National Facility RV Investigator collected this data on a voyage from Hobart between 29 January and 24 March 2021. Recordings provide complementary data on marine mammal presence, with blue whales and sperm whales particularly well-detected acoustically.

Use Cases

• Detect and classify marine mammal vocalizations based on acoustic recordings from DIFAR sonobuoys.
• Map the distribution of Antarctic krill based on the 3D coordinate data mentioned in the description.
• Study predator observation by correlating acoustic detections of whales and seals with krill abundance.
• Analyze ocean noise and ambient soundscapes in the Australian Antarctic Territory region.

Strengths

• Approximately 460 hours of acoustic recordings provide a substantial temporal sample.
• Data collection used 251 sonobuoys, suggesting broad spatial coverage along the voyage track.
• Recordings include multiple sonobuoy models (AN/SSQ-53F, Q53F, SDSQ955 HIDAR) from different manufacturers and years.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to the single 2021 voyage.

Provenance

Source

CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue, collected via the Marine National Facility RV Investigator.

Collection Method

Underwater acoustic data collected using Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR) sonobuoys deployed at 30 nmi intervals.

Time Range

29 January to 24 March 2021 (AEST).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-02 10:11:16.811528; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Voyage from Hobart (TAS) to Hobart, covering the Australian Antarctic Territory region.