I participated in WMMC’19 held in Barcelona, Spain from 7-12 December 2019. During this meeting, I gave a poster presentation and participated in the workshops, oral sessions and speed talks.
On the 7 & 8 of December, I participated three workshops. In a session of a Pan-Arctic passive acoustic monitoring, we produced a Web page for sharing monitoring sites and data-set. In a session of acoustic technology and devices, we were introduced to new acoustic devices and analysis methods, for example, real time observation system via satellite or Wi-fi. In an ocean noise session, topic presentations and group discussions were provided. We discussed about the observational data and evaluating criteria to assess the impact of noise on marine mammals.
On the 9th PM and 11th AM December, I made a poster presentation about ”Songs of fin whales in the southern Chukchi Sea”. My presentation is an analysis of the fin whale songs, which consist sequences of sounds produced repeatedly, recorded in the southern Chukchi Sea from 2012 to 2015. Since song pattern has regional specificity, it indicated the population and is used for revealing migration routes and population management. I presented the results of comparing this pattern with the patterns of other regions shown in the previous study. I was able to exchange opinions with people conducting similar researches in other regions, and was able to obtain information on song patterns and analysis methods.
Outside my presentation hours, I attended other presentations, mainly sessions on acoustic communication and polar ecology. In each sessions, there were a lot of theme on ocean noise. Also, In the acoustic session, there have been many analyzes using AI and deep learning, which have become a hot topic in recent years. I was able to obtain the research methods I would like to do and the analysis methods I would like to refer to, so I hope to use it in future research.
In the ice breaker and student event, I enjoyed talking with many researchers.
It was my first international conference and sometimes I struggled in speaking English. It was a good experience for me. Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to ArCS and all the people who supported me.
Shiho Furumaki (Hokkaido University)
The poster presentation in WMMC’19