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A new robot can dive up to 200 metres, hear previously undetectable, high-pitched whale songs, communicate by satellite with live humans thousands of miles away, and soon will be able to recharge its batteries from temperature changes in the ocean.  It rides on an autonomous vehicle called a Slocum Glider and, fresh from a trial run in the Bahamas, it’s getting ready for another launch in Australia.  The robot will cruise the oceans, “listening” for whales and sending its findings back to a central location, where oceangoing vessels can get information on where the whales are and, it is hoped, avoid using their sonar nearby.  The glider can also be used for research into the effects of ships’ sonar on the whales.  Jim Theriault of Defence Research and Development Canada, Dartmouth, was in charge of the Bahamas trial, and is enthusiastic about the possibilities.  “We are entering a new era of underwater sensing,” he says.\n
Source: Katharine Sanderson, Robot Built to Spy on Whales.   News @ Nature.com, April 27, 2007.  Photo of a Slocum glider being launched from NOAA.

You can find the entire article here http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/science...les-from-sonar