MARK McDONALD
 

Following a career in offshore oil exploration, Mark McDonald began doctoral studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where work in seafloor seismology and ocean acoustics led to publishing a paper on the acoustic calls of blue and fin whales incidentally recorded on seismometers in 1990. The enthusiastic response to this paper resulted in a change of career and Dr. McDonald has been studying the sounds of whales ever since. In 1997, he became an independent whale researcher doing business as Whale Acoustics. The focus of his research is to better understand the world's blue whale populations using "song" type, map their migrations and ultimately be able to monitor and census blue whale populations using long-term worldwide acoustic recordings. He is currently working with autonomous seafloor acoustic recorders in the Bering Sea, the Pacific of California and the Antarctic, while planning work in the Indian Ocean. Recent work also includes suction cup attachment of acoustic recorders to blue whales to better understand how acoustic calling activity relates to the numbers of whales present. His earlier publications in the fields of seismology and ocean acoustics are now joined by those on the acoustics of humpback, right, sperm and fin whales.

ABSTRACT

A HISTORY OF OCEAN NOISE: FROM EARTHQUAKES TO SCUBA-PIGS...

Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Evolution of marine mammals

Propeller driven shipping mid-1800's to present

Nuclear testing underwater, 1950's mostly, Mururoa

Seismic oil exploration, airguns, 1960 to present

Mid-Frequency sonars, 1964 to present

Low-Frequency sonars, 1993 to present

Super cavitating torpedoes, late 1990's to present?