Research Interests

I am interested in the use of underwater acoustics to study a variety of biological and physical oceanographic processes. Using underwater sound, we can non-invasively measure a variety of marine processes (zooplankton and fish distributions, submerged aquatic vegetation, turbulence and microstructure) with high temporal and spatial resolution.

My laboratory combines a variety of research methodologies to investigate these issues including: development of physics-based scattering models for different organisms/processes, validation of these models through scattering experiments conducted in laboratory tanks, collection of field-data in both estuarine and pelagic environments, and interpreting field survey data to better understand the oceanic environment.

Current research projects include: field surveys of Antarctic krill populations near the Antarctic peninsula, physical factors influencing the retention of krill in the nearshore environment, the distribution of zooplankton populations as they relate to foraging effort from predators, use of acoustics (including instrument development) to map and measure submerged aquatic vegetation in estuarine environments, scattering model development for gelatinous zooplankton, submerged aquatic vegetation, and temperature and salinity microstructure.

Selected Recent Publications

G.L. Lawson, P. H. Wiebe, C. J. Ashjian, S. M. Gallager, C. S. Davis, and J. D. Warren (2004) “Acoustically-inferred zooplankton distribution in relation to hydrography west of the Antarctic peninsula” Deep Sea Research II 51, 2041-2072.

J. D. Warren, D. A. Demer, D. E. McGehee, R. Di Mento, and J. F. Borsani (2004) “Biological and physical factors affecting the distribution of Meganyctiphanes norvegica and other zooplankton in the Ligurian Sea in late summer 2000” Journal of Plankton Research 26, 1419-1427.

D.E. McGehee, D.A. Demer, and J.D. Warren (2004) “Acoustically measured zooplankton distributions in the Ligurian Sea in August 1999 and their relation to physical and biological oceanographic features.” Journal of Plankton Research 26, 1409-1418.

J. D. Warren, T. K. Stanton, P. H. Wiebe, and H. E. Seim (2003) “Inference of biological and physical parameters in an internal wave using multiple frequency acoustic scattering data” ICES Journal of Marine Science 60, 1033-1046.

P.H. Wiebe, T. K. Stanton, C. H. Greene, M. C. Benfield, H. M. Sosik, T. C. Austin, J. D. Warren, and T. Hammer (2002) “BIOMAPER-II: an integrated instrument platform for coupled biological and physical measurements in coastal and oceanic regimes.” IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 27(3), 700-716.

J.D. Warren, T. K. Stanton, D. E. McGehee, and D. Chu (2002) “Effect of animal orientation on acoustic estimates of zooplankton properties.” IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 27(1), 130-138.

J.D. Warren, T. K. Stanton, M. C. Benfield, P. H. Wiebe, D. Chu, and M. Sutor (2001) “In situ measurements of acoustic target strengths of gas-bearing siphonophores.” ICES Journal of Marine Science 58(4), 740-749.

T.K. Stanton, D. Chu, P. H. Wiebe, R. L. Eastwood, and J. D. Warren (2000) “Acoustic scattering by benthic and planktonic shelled animals.” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 108, 535-550.

J.F. Lynch, J. D. Irish, T. F. Gross, P. L. Wiberg, A. E. Newhall, P. A. Traykovski and J. D. Warren (1997) “Acoustic measurements of the spatial and temporal structure of near-bottom boundary layer in the 1990-1991 STRESS experiment.” Continental Shelf Research 17, 1271-1295