Conversation with a Colleague: Andone Lavery

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2022.18.3.67 Volume 18, issue 3 | Fall 2022 • Acoustics Today 67 can play an important role in ecosystem function by impacting biomass distribution across trophic levels, thus impacting energy transfer and marine food web dynamics. Recently, spatial scales and timescales associated with anthropogenic impacts have also become important, but their impacts are relatively unknown at this time. For example, marine heat waves and an apparent increase in the number of warm core rings, a type of mesoscale eddy shed from a large ocean current such as the Gulf Stream, have a relatively unknown impact on ecosystem function. All this variability poses a daunting sampling problem, exacerbated by the challenges in accessing remote sites for field work because the ocean is not always a friendly and cooperative colleague. The use of sound to explore the oceans, to understand this variability, and to make the ocean more “transparent” has driven my research throughout my career.