Echosounders: Non-intrusive observations of the pelagic
Echosounders can contribute significantly to our understanding of the physics of the oceans, their organisms and ecosystem functioning. Ecosystem processes and organisms can be studies at large geographic scales, at large depth and at timescales of seconds to years. In this talk, I present data illustrating different types of information that can be obtained from the use of acoustic methods, with emphasis on results from stationary, submerged echosounders. For most examples, the echosounders have been cabled to shore for power and transmission of data, facilitating long-term observations of zooplankton and their potential predators in their undisturbed natural environment. This has revealed both short-term and seasonal patterns in organismal behavior and ecosystem processes which hardly could have been disclosed in other ways.
Bio
Stein Kaartvedt is Professor of Marine Science at the Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway. He received his Master's and Doctoral (1989) degrees in Marine Biology from the University of Bergen, Norway. Early in his career, Kaartvedt was employed at various projects at the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen and subsequently was awarded a post-doctoral scholarship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA (1991-1992). Thereafter he became associate and later full professor at the University of Oslo, including serving as head of the Department of Biology from 2000-2003. From 2009 to 2014 Kaartvedt was professor in marine science at the Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, thereafter returning to the University of Oslo.
Kaartvedt's research interests are in marine pelagic ecology, focusing on physical/biological coupling, distribution and behavior of zooplankton and fish and their predator-prey relationships. His research has largely been based on using submerged, stationary echo sounders for in situ studies of individuals, populations and pelagic communities.
