Solar Energy News  
Greenhouse gases make oceans noisier: UN, wildlife groups

Legal expert Veronica Frank of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said ocean noise has doubled each decade for the past 40 years and is expected to keep increasing. "Blue whales' capacity to communicate has been reduced by 90 percent," she said.
by Staff Writers
Rome (AFP) Dec 3, 2008
Greenhouse gases worsen ocean noise by raising acidity levels and causing sound to travel farther, making it ever harder for marine mammals to communicate, UN and wildlife experts said Wednesday.

"Acidity is a new, strange and unwanted development... for a whole range of marine animals," Mark Simmonds of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society told a news conference.

Simmonds, the society's scientific director, was speaking as the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) began three days of debate on a resolution aimed at combatting ocean noise, which is caused primarily by shipping, oil and gas exploration and military sonars.

"Noisy activities are producing an acoustic fog that prevents whales from maintaining social groups, finding each other for breeding purposes, and so forth," Simmonds said.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, which is studying the rising acidity of seawater, says on its website: "As the oceans become more acidic, sounds will travel farther," notably low-frequency sounds "used by marine mammals to find food and mates."

Legal expert Veronica Frank of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said ocean noise has doubled each decade for the past 40 years and is expected to keep increasing.

"Blue whales' capacity to communicate has been reduced by 90 percent," she said.

The proposed resolution would urge the 110 parties to the CMS to mitigate the impact of ocean noise on vulnerable species, assess the environmental impact of sound-producing activities and avoid the use of high-intensity naval sonars that could pose risks for marine mammals.

The issue of ocean noise is an "international hot potato" because of the commercial and military interests involved, Simmonds said.

One study found that sounds from seismic surveys using powerful airguns travelled more than 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) from the source, the UN Environment Programme said in a communique.

Sound naturally travels farther in water than air because water has more mass.

Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Ocean Growing More Acidic Faster Than Once Thought
Chicago IL (SPX) Nov 27, 2008
University of Chicago scientists have documented that the ocean is growing more acidic faster than previously thought. In addition, they have found that the increasing acidity correlates with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a paper published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov. 24.







  • EDF reveals 4.5-bln-dlr counter-bid for half of Constellation nuclear
  • Poland aims for nuclear power plant by 2020: PM
  • Westinghouse To Pursue Nuclear Power Market In India
  • Russia and Venezuela sign nuclear energy deal

  • Analysis: U.N. climate conference begins
  • Prehistoric Climate Can Help Forecast Future Changes
  • Top scientist dismayed at spending imbalance on climate, poverty
  • Over 10,000 metal workers protest EU climate plans

  • EU targets Chinese soy imports in new melamine scare
  • Food Prices And Finance Crisis Present Double Trouble For The Poor
  • IAEA calls for renewed interest in mutant plant breeding
  • Global warming could harm Pacific food security: UN

  • Study Of Oldest Turtle Fossil
  • Bacteria Preserve Fossils
  • Land Iguanas Under Continuing Threat On Galapagos Archipelago
  • Road Kill Leads To Study Of Highway Impact On Environment

  • NASA's New Ares Rocket Engine Passes Review
  • NASA to test Orion launch abort system
  • First Rocket Parts Of NASA's New Launch System Arrive In Florida
  • More design flaws found in Ares I rocket

  • Nuclear Power In Space - Part 2
  • Outside View: Nuclear future in space
  • Nuclear Power In Space

  • GIS Development Gives Award To Institute Of Photogrammetry
  • UNESCO Signs Partnership With JAXA
  • NASA Selects NOAA GOES-R Series Spacecraft Contractor
  • Ball Aerospace Completes CDR For Landsat's Operational Land Imager

  • ESA Satellites Flying In Formation
  • Kazakhstan Admits Losing Satellite
  • Astronomers hope to see orbiting tool bag
  • Please don't litter space, scientists say

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement