[All-postdocs] Bioseminar - Emmett Culhane

[Ana Velez]

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Biology Department Seminar

Thursday, May 8, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Redfield Auditorium

Emmett Culhane
MIT-WHOI Joint Program Student

Image-Based Machine Learning Reveals Structural 'Fingerprints' of Pelagic Seascapes in Shipboard Acoustic Echograms
Echograms generated using shipboard active acoustics data provide visually rich insights into the structure and behavior of pelagic communities, yet current numerical approaches underutilize this complexity. Here, we present a novel application of convolutional autoencoders (CAEs) to analyze diel echogram imagery from the open ocean. We applied this approach to over 1,500 echograms spanning 50-850 meters depth, collected using uncalibrated Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs), deployed across the Pacific Ocean between 2001 and 2018. By compressing each echogram into a low-dimensional feature space, we identified recurring structural patterns-such as diel vertical migrations and scattering layers-and cluster them into six coherent regional modes. These modes, or "acoustic fingerprints," provide a new, interpretable framework for classifying pelagic ecosystems based on structure rather than backscattering intensity. When mapped using environmental covariates, our classification aligns closely with previous biogeographies derived from calibrated echosounder data, demonstrating the potential of unsupervised deep learning to extend ecosystem monitoring using widely available ADCP archives.

For questions, contact:

Ana Maria Velez
Biology Pre-Award Administrative Associate
Ph: (+1)(508)289-2334
[signature_1005462319]

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