Acoustic Zoom
is a company that recently developed and patented a new sonar technology that is safer for marine mammals, particularly dolphins, as it doesn’t damage their hearing as intensely as traditional sonar, and provides improved 3D imaging of the ocean’s underlying geology. Scientists Jaques Guigné and Nick Pace at the University of Bath devised and tested this new method over several years to ensure its success and limited environmental impact. The technology works by emitting smaller amounts of energy over a longer period of time and at a higher frequency than regular sonar, making it gentler on marine life while also creating higher resolution imagery than older methods. Studies have shown that dolphins and whales will swim as far as possible away from regular sonar, and occasionally end up beached, in a desperate attempt to get away from the sounds, which leads to high fatality rates around high-sonar use locations.
The company is comprised of ultra high-resolution imaging specialists who have developed a suite of innovative 3D and 4D seismic imaging technologies, methods, and signal processing protocols that improve resolution and “open up” focusing ability in land and marine site investigations. This new development marks a breakthrough in the way mapping data could be collected in the future, both due to its imagery and environmentally friendly nature.
Human technology doesn’t need to have harmful impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, and Acoustic Zoom is an excellent example of how higher quality geographic mapping can be combined with environmentally conscious practice. Dolphins and whales are a crucial part of marine ecology, but noise pollution also harms a variety of other marine animals that depend on sound signals, so quieter and less harmful sonar is a positive and important step towards improving humanity’s impact on the oceans.
Written by: Christopher Ewell, AGS on July 8, 2015