This year 4 students, Amos Ngola, Hannes Hubmayr, Bethany Marsh, and Kat Baker, participated in the OVAL project. Here is some info and pictures of what they did.
Kat, Amos, Bethany, Val, Hannes, and Heather
We went on a tour of the University of Washington's Physics Department. Heather Zorn, a grad student, showed us around the school and what it was like to do research in such a large university.
In order to localize an orca we needed to know where the hydrophones were located. We sent out a series of chirps and analyzed the time delays the hydrophones recorded and because we knew exactly where the signal was coming from we could find the precise locations of each of the hydrophones. Here we are setting up a speaker to send out chirping noises in the water.
Hannes on the right is sending out chirps to the speaker which Amos is holding in the water. Bethany is speaking with Hannes on a walkie talkie so that he sends the chirps at the right times. Kat is measuring the precise placement of the speaker with a 100 year old transit.
We watched diligently for whales to pass by so that we could record their vocalization.
Finally some pass by
We went sailing and kayaking
