Directional Hydrophone

The Directional Hydrophone project is led by Dr. Kevin B. Smith, Chairman and Professor of Physics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. The Directional Hydrophone is deployed with a shroud to dampen current motions and improve measurement performance. Direction determination uses accelerometer based particle motion sensing. In contrast to the MARS omnidirectional hydrophone of the Ocean Soundscape project, which samples sound at very high frequency (256 kHz), the Directional Hydrophone samples sound at a much lower rate (8 kHz). Applications include studies of spatial patterns in marine mammal populations and anthropogenic noise sources.