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86 | BLUE INNOVATIONS

TUNED IN
Bioacoustics

in the Mediterranean

Following nine months of acoustic recordings at sea, the oceanography
team from the Sphyrna Odyssey mission presented highly innovative

scientific results.

This long-term adventure is characterised by two the health of an ecosystem without impacting it, is
world firsts, mixing marine bioacoustics, technolo- perfectly aligned with our values”, explained Philippe
gical innovation and artificial intelligence. Launched Mondielli in his introduction, Scientific Director at the
in September 2019, the Sphyrna Odyssey mission Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
involves acoustic exploration of the western Medi-
terranean using autonomous, silent nautical drones.
Researchers fitted them with mini sensors and cut- DIVING INTO THE ABYSS
ting-edge sound recording systems which send data
to laboratories in real-time. This new type of explora- From listening to fauna in the depths of the ocean to
tion was devised by Hervé Glotin from the CNRS LIS the impacts of lockdown in the Mediterranean, this ze-
laboratory at the University of Toulon in response to ro-carbon mission shines light on the enigmatic world
a call for projects by the company Sea Proven. It is of a sea criss-crossed by deep underwater canyons,
broadly supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco currents and places of refuge and shelter. During the
Foundation, Monaco Explorations and ACCOBAMS, 9-month mission, hydrophones fitted to Sphyrna twin
and continued under the mission name “Quiet Sea” drones sent 20 terabytes of 3D acoustic data, which
during lockdown, until May 2020. “The use of these was processed by algorithms and then interpreted at
ecological scientific research vessels and bioacous- the Toulon laboratory.
tics, an increasingly popular science to determine