Published: 19th Apr, 2021
In the latest development, scientists have come together to understand the impact of reduced anthrophony (human-made sounds) due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the marine ecosystem.
In this regard, the International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE) has identified a network of over 200 non-military hydrophones (underwater microphones) in oceans across the world.
Context
In the latest development, scientists have come together to understand the impact of reduced anthrophony (human-made sounds) due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the marine ecosystem.
In this regard, the International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE) has identified a network of over 200 non-military hydrophones (underwater microphones) in oceans across the world.
About
What is oceanic acoustics?
- Ocean acoustics refers to the study of sound and its behavior in the waters.
- When underwater objects vibrate, they create sound-pressure waves that alternately compress and decompress the water molecules as the sound wave travels through the sea.
- Sound waves radiate in all directions away from the source like ripples on the surface of a pond.
- The compressions and decompressions associated with sound waves are detected as changes in pressure by the structures in our ears and most man-made sound receptors such as a hydrophone, or underwater microphone.
- Components: The three broad components of oceanic acoustics are
- geophony (sounds created by non-biological natural events like earthquakes, waves, and bubbling),
- biophony (sounds created by the ocean’s living creatures)
- anthrophony
How will it be done?
- The underwater microphones would pick up even faraway low-frequency signals from whales and other marine animals, as well as those emanated by human activities.
- The researchers will do a comparative study of this quantitative picture of the ocean acoustics and other sets of data on marine life collected through methods such as animal tagging.
- This will help them understand how the soundscape of the oceans is changing and how it impacts marine life.
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International Quiet Ocean Experiment
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