Cetacean acoustic detections from free-floating vertical hydrophone arrays in the southern California Current.

Drifting acoustic recorders were deployed in the southern California Current during Fall 2014. Two hydrophones configured as a 2-m vertical array at 100 m depth recorded using a 192 kHz sample rate on a 10% duty cycle (2 min/20 min). Beaked whales were detected in 33 of 8618 two-minute recordings. Sperm whales were detected in 185 recordings, and dolphins in 2291 recordings. Many beaked whales detected were over an abyssal plain and not associated with slope or seamount features. Results show the feasibility of using free-floating recording systems to detect a variety of cetacean species over periods of several months.