Human in Residence: Jo Garrett

Jo Garrett joins us as a human in residence to develop the sonic kayak project.

Jo currently works at the university of Exeter on the topic of biodiversity and ecosystem services, having recently completed a phd on the impacts of marine renewable energy on underwater sound. Jo's background is in marine biology, conservation and resource management.

The sonic kayaks are already set up to record temperatures with GPS, time and date, allowing fine-scale mapping of marine and estuarine climate data - in addition there are hydrophones which play underwater sounds in real-time to the paddler through speakers. Jo is interested in modifying the system so that it records underwater sound via the hydrophones, and possibly incorporating on-boat data analysis to reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored. Mapping underwater sound on a fine-scale has not yet been done, as the existing technology has been limiting - the hope is that the sonic kayaks will make this new form of environmental research possible.