Oliver Sølund Kirsebom
PhD Physics
Senior Data Scientist at Open Ocean Robotics and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University
Academic CV
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/okayphysics
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5843-7465
email:
code: github.com/oliskir

Bio

I have a PhD in nuclear physics from Aarhus University, Denmark. For more than a decade, I was a frequent visitor at particle accelerator laboratories such as CERN in Switzerland, performing experiments to advance our understanding of the nuclear astrophysical processes that have shaped our Universe. Nowadays, however, my focus has shifted to a more applied realm. As Senior Data Scientist at Open Ocean Robotics, I help making sense of a wide range of ocean sensor data collected by unmanned surface vessels, building data analysis pipelines, for example, automating the detection and classification of marine mammal vocalisations. I am also actively involved in the HALLO research project and a member of ONC’s Ocean Observatory Council and the NoiseTracker Technical Committee.

On this page you will find an overview of my scientific contributions, which include open-source software, research papers, feature articles & media coverage, and presentations given at various conferences and workshops.

Software

I am currently the lead developer on two open-source Python packages: ketos, which helps you develop deep learning models for analyzing underwater sound (for example, detecting whale calls), and kadlu, which provides tools for modelling underwater sound propagation.

I have also developed a fair amount of specialized code in C++ and Fortran for analyzing nuclear-physics data and simulating various atomic and nuclear processes. Some of this code is publicly available (simX, Open R-matrix, DCAP, VeikonKone, bedepe), but the majority remains behind locked doors on the code repository of my old research group in Aarhus.

On my github page you will find a few personal coding projects including numerical solutions to the time-dependent and time-independent Schrodinger equations implemented in Python.

Research papers

I do my best to keep my ORCID profile up to date, and I also have a Google Scholar profile that Google kindly keeps up to date for me. Below, is a selection of recent or noteworthy papers.

• B. Padovese, O. S. Kirsebom, et al., Adapting deep learning models to new acoustic environments - A case study on the North Atlantic right whale upcall, Ecological Informatics 77, 102169 (2023)

• S. Medisetty, et al., Identification of periodic fish tags with deep learning, The Journal of Ocean Technology 16, 134-149 (2021)

• M. J. Rider, O. S. Kirsebom, et al., Space use patterns of sharks in relation to boat activity in an urbanized coastal waterway, Marine Environmental Research 172, 105489 (2021)

• O. S. Kirsebom et al., Performance of a Deep Neural Network at Detecting North Atlantic Right Whale Upcalls, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 147, 2636 (2020); article,data,software

• O. S. Kirsebom et al., Discovery of an Exceptionally Strong β-Decay Transition of ²⁰F and Implications for the Fate of Intermediate-Mass Stars, Physical Review Letters 123, 262701 (2019)

• O. S. Kirsebom, et al., First Accurate Normalization of the β-delayed α Decay of ¹⁶N and Implications for the ¹²C(α,γ)¹⁶O Astrophysical Reaction Rate, Physical Review Letters 121, 142701 (2018).

• O. S. Kirsebom, et al., Improved Limit on Direct α Decay of the Hoyle State, Physical Review Letters 108, 202501 (2012).

• O. S. Kirsebom, et al., Precise and accurate determination of ⁸B decay spectrum, Physical Review C 83, 065802 (2011).

• O. S. Kirsebom, et al., Observation of γ-delayed 3α breakup of the 15.11 and 12.71 MeV states in ¹²C, Physics Letters B 680, 44-49 (2009).

Feature articles and media coverage

• Oliver White, Oliver S. Kirsebom, et al., Object Tracking for Uncrewed Surface Vehicles, The Journal of Ocean Technology 19, No. 2, 104-106 (2024)

• Interviewed for Diving in Data: How AI Could Help Save the Whales published on Pinnguaq’s website on 5 November 2021

• Oliver S. Kirsebom, et al., Advancing Acoustic Fish Tracking with Deep Learning, The Journal of Ocean Technology 16, No. 2, 124-125 (2021)

• Researchers aim to use artificial intelligence to save endangered whales in B.C., Vancouver Sun, 13 December 2020

• Fabio Frazao, Oliver S. Kirsebom, et al., Embedded Deep Learning for Underwater Acoustics, The Journal of Ocean Technology 15, No. 3, 174-175 (2020)

• O. S. Kirsebom, At eksplodere eller at implodere?, Aktuel Naturvidenskab nr. 4-2020

• Interview about the use of deep learning for detecting North Atlantic right whale calls, Mainstreet on CBC Radio One, 28 April 2020

• Ryan F. Mandelbaum, How Neon Can Make a Star Destroy Itself, Gizmodo, 31 March 2020

• Rachel Berkowitz, Rare nuclear transition provides evidence for stellar explosion mechanism, Physics Today 73, 3, 16 (2020)

• L’intelligence artificielle à la rescousse des baleines noires, Journal le Soir, 3 March 2020

• Rare nuclear transition provides evidence for supernova mechanism, Physics Today, 31 January 2020

• Research update - Forbidden nuclear transition sheds light on how some stars die, Physics World, 23 January 2020

• Carla Frohlich, Viewpoint - A Forbidden Transition Allowed for Stars, Physics 12, 151 (2019)

• Oliver Kirsebom et al., Towards Versatile & Adaptive Detection Algorithms in Underwater Acoustics, The Journal of Ocean Technology 14, No. 3, 144-145 (2019)

• O. S. Kirsebom, Viewpoint - Watching the Hoyle State Fall Apart, Physics 10, 103 (2017)

• Ny Viden - Aarhus forskere tættere på at forklare kulstofs gåde, Science Report, 19 May 2017

• EPJ A Highlight - Breaking up: a convoluted drama at nuclear scale, too, European Physical Journal A, 12 October 2016

• D. Jenkins and O. S. Kirsebom, The secret of life, Physics World 26, 23-26 (2013)

Presentations

• Monitoring our oceans and collecting ocean data with uncrewed surface vehicles
  2024.06.14, IOS Seminar, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC, Canada
  Watch the presentation: video

• Whale Watching with Robots
  2023.01.31, ONC Lunch Seminar, Victoria, BC, Canada
  Watch the presentation: video

• Uncrewed surface vehicles as a platform for marine mammal monitoring
  2022.11.03, Workshop: Machine Learning Advances for Marine Acoustics and Imagery Data, Ocean Networks Canada & MERIDIAN

• Deep Learning for Marine Bioacoustics - A Practitioner’s Perspective
  2022.08.31, Workshop: Towards Predicting Whale Movement, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

• MERIDIAN open-source software for deep learning based acoustic data analysis
  2022.05.23, 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Denver, Co, USA

• Detecting and Classifying Underwater Sounds With Deep Learning
  2022.05.17, DRDC Atlantic Discussion Series, Halifax, NS, Canada

• Open-source deep learning models for acoustic detection and classification of orcas
  2021.12.03, 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Seattle, WA, USA

• To Implode, Or To Explode? Electron Capture on ²⁰Ne and Implications for Intermediate-Mass Stars
  2020.06.24, NSCL/FRIB Summer Virtual Seminar, East Lansing, MI, USA

• Can Deep Neural Networks be trained to detect the North Atlantic right whale upcall?
  2019.11.27, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada

• Potential and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence
  2019.11.01, Future Proofing Your Career in The Age of Disruption, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, Canada

• An Atlas of Canada’s Changing Ocean Soundscape
  2019.07.08, The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life, The Hague, The Netherlands

• Acoustic Detection and Classification Using Deep Neural Networks
  2019.07.08, The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life, The Hague, The Netherlands

• An Atlas of the Changing Soundscape in Canadian Oceans
  2019.05.08, OceanPredict’19, Halifax, NS, Canada

• Marine Environmental Research Infrastructure for Data Integration and Application Network
  2019.04.29, Ocean Networks Canada, Victoria, BC, Canada

• Deep learning applied to underwater acoustic data
  2018.09.05, Workshop on Analysis of Acoustic Landscapes, ICMC, University of São Paulo, Brazil

• Observation of the ground state transition in the beta decay of ²⁰F
  2018.05.24, 14th Nordic Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

• Electron capture on ²⁰Ne and the ultimate fate of medium-mass stars
  2018.01.12, Colloquium at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, Canada

• Improved experimental determination of the branching ratio for $\beta$-delayed $\alpha$ decay of ¹⁶N
  2017.06.21, Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics VIII, Catania, Italy

• Electron capture on ²⁰Ne and the ultimate fate of stars in the mass range 8–10$M_{\odot}$
  2016.12.06, 61st DAE-BRNS Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India

• Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics
  2016.12.04, Orientation program for the 61st DAE-BRNS Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India

• Bringing an old magnetic spectrometer back out of retirement
  2016.11.24, Nuclear Physics Seminar, Jyväskylä, Finland

• Towards an experimental determination of the transition strength between the ground states of ²⁰F and ²⁰Ne
  2016.06.19–24, 14th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC XIV), Niigata, Japan

• Experimental progress on clarifying the excitation spectrum of ¹²C
  2016.05.24, 11th International Conference on Clustering Aspects of Nuclear Structure and Dynamics, Napoli, Italy

• Studies of beta-delayed particle-emission in light nuclei—some recent examples
  2016.05.11, PG Seminar, ISOLDE, CERN, Switzerland

• Kerner og stjerner
  2016.03.11, Seminar, Aarhus University, Denmark
  A 30-minute talk aimed at 2nd and 3rd year physics students on current research trends in nuclear astrophysics, focusing on the activities of the nuclear physics group at Aarhus University.

• Nuclear astrophysics at the precision frontier
  2016.03.15, VIP seminar, Vejle Fjord Hotel, Denmark

• Bringing an old electron spectrometer back to life
  2015.12.15, MARA2015: Status, Physics and Future, Jyväskylä, Finland

• How radioactive targets can help us gain further insights into the properties and structure of light nuclei
  2015.11.25, CHANDA workshop on target preparation, PSI, Switzerland

• Universets smeltedigler
  29.10.2015, Lecture, Aarhus University, Denmark
  A lecture on the formation of the chemical elements for the Danish Youth Science Association (UNF).

• Efforts towards an experimental determination of the strength of the 2nd-forbidden transition between the ground states of ²⁰F and ²⁰Ne
  2015.10.07, NuGrid workshop: Nucleosynthesis away from stability, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

• Using gamma decay to study low-lying resonances in ¹²C
  2015.09.17, COMEX5 Krakow, Poland

• Nuclear astrophysics at ISOLDE
  2015.08.19, NICE workshop, SDU, Denmark

• Multi-particle decay studies
  2015.04.16, 13th Nordic Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Saariselkä, Finland

• Grundstoffernes oprindelse
  2015.03.25, Lecture, Aarhus University, Denmark
  A lecture on the formation of the chemical elements for high-school students.

• Gamma-ray light from stellar explosions
  2015.01.22, Annual meeting of the Danish physical Society, DTU, Denmark

• Can PARIS provide new clues about the structure of the Hoyle state in ¹²C?
  2014.11.25, PARIS@IPNO Campaign Workshop, IPN-Orsay, France

• Applying new tools to old problems: Experimental studies of resonances in ¹²C
  2014.05.27, 3rd International Workshop on State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics (SOTANCP3), Yokohama, Japan

• Gamma rays from novae
  2014.01.28, ATHENA Brussels Workshop on Astrophysics, Brussels, Belgium

• Gamma rays from novae
  2013.11.20, Seminar, Aarhus University, Denmark

• A talk in two parts: I. Gamma rays from novae; II. New discoveries about the Hoyle state
  2013.03.11, JINA lunch-talk series, Michigan State University, USA

• S1378: Lifetime Measurement of the 7.786 MeV State in ²³Mg
  2012.11.21, TRIUMF Science Forum, Vancouver, Canada

• ¹²C and the triple-$\alpha$ reaction rate
  2012.10.27, 10th International Conference on Clustering Aspects of Nuclear Structure and Dynamics, Debrecen, Hungary

• New discoveries about an old nucleus
  2012.07.18, Seminar, University of York, UK

• On the breakup of ¹²C resonances into three alpha particles
  2011.10.14, 6th Workshop on the Critical Stability of Quantum Few-Body Systems, Erice, Italy

• Three-body decay: the case of ¹²C $\rightarrow 3\alpha$
  2011.06.07, 4th International Conference on proton-emitting nuclei and related topics (PROCON), Bordeaux, France

• A nuclear physics solution to the cosmological lithium problem?
  2011.03.30, Seminar, University of Oslo, Norway

• The EMMA recoil mass spectrometer
  2010.12.15, MAGNET 2010 International Workshop, Catania, Italy

• ⁸B Neutrinos and ¹²C Resonances
  2010.10.04, TRIUMF Colloquium, Vancouver, Canada

• New precise measurements of the ⁸B neutrino spectrum
  2010.07.19, 11th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC XI), Heidelberg, Germany

• A complete kinematics approach to study multi-particle final state reactions
  2010.03.22, Nordic Winter Meeting on Physics at FAIR, Björkliden, Sweden

• Exotic structures in ¹²C: alpha clustering
  2010.03, International Symposium: Forefronts of researches in exotic nuclear structures, Niigata, Japan

• Three-alpha breakup of ¹²C resonances
  2009.10, ISOLDE Seminar, CERN, Switzerland

• Three-alpha breakup of ¹²C resonances
  2009.09, 16th Euroschool on Exotic Beams, Leuven, Belgium

• Three-alpha breakup of ¹²C resonances
  2009.08, 10th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Beijing, China

• Three-alpha breakup of ¹²C resonances
  2009.06, Annual meeting of the Danish physical society & Annual Nordic Meeting, DTU, Denmark

• High-statistics study of the ⁸B beta decay
  2009.04, Arctic FIDIPRO-EFES Workshop, Saariselkä, Finland

• The role of general symmetries in the three-alpha decay of ¹²C resonances
  2009.03, European Nuclear Physics Conference, Bochum, Germany

• The status of the recent ⁸B experiment at JYFL and properties of ¹²C states deduced through use of Dalitz plots
  2009.01, MAGISOL collaboration meeting, Madrid, Spain

• High-statistics study of the ⁸B beta decay
  2008.09, 5th International Conference on Exotic Nuclei and Atomic Masses (ENAM 2008), Ryn, Poland

• High-statistics study of the ⁸B beta decay
  2008.09, 15th Euroschool on Exotic Beams, Piaski, Poland

• High-statistics study of the ⁸B beta decay
  2008.07, 10th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC X), Michigan, USA

• High-statistics study of the ⁸B beta decay
  2008.05, JYFL Annual users meeting, Jyväskylä, Finland

• A study of ¹⁰Li via the ⁹Li(²H,$p$) reaction
  2007.08, 14th Euroschool on Exotic Beams, Houlgate, France

• Resonances in ¹²C of astrophysical interest studied via the reaction ¹⁰B(³He,$p\alpha\alpha\alpha$)
  2007.08, 11th Nordic nuclear meeting, Gilleleje, Denmark

• A study of ¹⁰Li via the ⁹Li(²H,$p$) reaction
  2007.06, International symposium on frontiers and perspectives of nuclear and hadron physics (FPNH07), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

• Resonances in ¹²C of astrophysical interest studied via the reaction ¹⁰B(³He,$p\alpha\alpha\alpha$)
  2007.06, INPC 2007, Tokyo, Japan

• Nuclear Physics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark
  2007.05, Foreign Graduate Student Invitation Program (FGIP), Tokyo institute of Technology, Japan