Confidence intervals of location for marine mammal calls via time-differences-of-arrival: Sensitivity analysis.

Confidence intervals of location (CIL) of calling marine mammals, derived from time-differences-of-arrival (TDOA) between receivers, depend on errors of TDOAs, receiver location, clocks, and sound speeds. Simulations demonstrate a time-differences-of-arrival-beamforming-locator (TDOA-BL) yields CIL in error by O(10-100) km for experimental scenarios because it is not designed to account for relevant errors. The errors are large and sometimes exceed the distances of detection. Another locator designed for all errors, sequential bound estimation, yields CIL always containing the true location. TDOA-BL have and are being used to understand potential effects of environmental stress on marine mammals; a use worth reconsidering.