Scientists Are Using Sound To Unlock Our Planet ’s Secrets

Waves crash. Tree branches vibrate. Mosquitoes hum. These phenomena take place every day but not everyone necessarily hears them. Indeed, some sounds happen in places that are hard for humans to access or below the level of what we can perceive. But more and more, scientists are listening in. From a root system up to 90 feet underground, to balloons floating 70,000 feet above earth, a series of recent audible insights are being showcased this week by experts gathering at the annual Acoustical Society of America conference. The new data revealed by these sounds are helping scientists better understand the natural world. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] For example, last year researchers discovered that climate change is speeding up the transmission of sound in the ocean, with potential implications to marine life. More recently, in March, a study published in Nature revealed how the pandemic reduced shipping noise in the deep-ocean, lessening the amount anthropogenic disruption to the marine environment’s own soundscape upon which animals rely. And this summer, ecologists plan to monitor how remote Alaskan wildlife is responding to climate change and industry; they’ll do this by listening to birds chirping and bugs buzzing to analyze their abundance and activity patterns. It’s a “chance to really listen in on a new world,” says Daniel Bowman, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy national security a...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change embargoed study healthscienceclimate Nature & Science Source Type: news