Of all the baleen whales, humpback are the best known singers, everyone's heard about the haunting song of the humpback whale, but every one of them will sing the same song every year. When the song changes the rest adopt the new song," she said.
Listening under the ice, you're always going to hear and discover something new
"It's fascinating that the bowhead whale should be so different from other species of whale."
The variety of their verse could, in part, be attributed to their now rapidly increasing numbers, a promising tale for a group which were once almost brought to the brink of extinction by whalers in the 1600-1800s.
Now that it's possible to leave hydrophones under the water for over a year, researchers aim to eavesdrop on many more of their mesmerising songs.
"Listening under the ice, you're always going to hear and discover something new. We think of the arctic as this potentially vast frozen wasteland. It's not, there is so much going on all year round under the ice, and it's this magical, magical world," said Stafford.
"If I could spend the rest of my career listening to bowhead whales with a hydrophone, I'd be a happy person.