Monday, October 6, 2008
Acid makes the oceans louder
In a study in the most recent Geophysical Research Letters, Keith Hestor and crew calculated that the predicted drop in oceanc pH of 0.3 points over the next 40 years will cause a 70% increase in the distance sound will travel in the oceans. It's not really understood why this happens but it is known that acidity increases the sound conductance of seawater. What was surprising was how much the rather modest decrease in pH would affect the conductance.
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3 comments:
How is that going to affect communication in ocean species? Or mating?
That is the $64,000 question. It is expected that it will hit animals that depend on sonar, like dolphins and whales, rather hard. Researchers predict that this will cause significant disruptions in hunting, communications and mating for these species, but right now we really don't know what the extent will be or how well they will be able to adapt.
People should read this.
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