How predators find and find and feed on prey affects their survival and shapes ocean ecosystems. The Blue Whale Observatory focuses on blue whales, the largest animal in Earth’s history, and krill which sustain blue whales and many other predators in the Monterey Bay region.  By integrating passive acoustic sensing to understand predators, active acoustic sensing to understand prey, and meteorological / oceanographic data, we seek to understand the ecosystem processes influencing predator-prey dynamics and interactions. 

Blue whales and krill represent an ideal study system. Blue whales are obligate predators of krill, and both krill swarms and blue whale foraging have strong and persistent association with geological features – the continental shelf break and submarine canyons.  Recent discoveries made in the Monterey Bay region have revealed that both blue whales and krill respond strongly to wind driven upwelling – krill by aggregating within coastal upwelling plumes, and blue whales by moving into the plumes to forage.  This dynamic response to ocean circulation strongly influences the survival and fitness of the whales that require massive amounts of food to survive, migrate long distances, and reproduce.