UW researcher launches new technology for underwater acoustics

Earlier this month, a UW researcher deployed fiber optic cables — which are cables used to rapidly transmit audio and video data — into the Puget Sound, opening the floor for innovative research into marine mammals.

The fiber optic cable system was developed in the UW Ocean Data Lab, run by professor Shima Abadi. Abadi’s research focuses on passive underwater acoustics in oceanography, or listening for noises in the ocean.

A hydrophone, or underwater microphone, is typically used to record acoustics. The Ocean Observatories Initiative, a project funded by the National Science Foundation, has recorded underwater data for 10 years to observe long term trends in ocean ambient noise in Oregon and Washington. Read more from THEDAILY.