In freezing antarctic waters, amid bobbing chunks of floating ice, the hums, pitches and echoes of life in the deep are helping scientists understand the behavior and movements of marine mammals.
“There are species which make impressive sounds, literally like Star Wars, they sound like spaceships,” said Colombian scientist Andrea Bonilla, who is carrying out research with underwater microphones off Antarctica’s coast.
The biologist from Cornell University in New York submerges a hydrophone covered in titanium and attached to a buoy into the frigid water. The device is like a camera trap in the wild, except it picks up aquatic sounds.
Photo: AFP
Her team, part of a Colombian scientific expedition to the Southern Ocean, also picks up devices they left a year ago for analysis.
The research also gives scientists data on how human activity and environmental pollution affect sea life in one of the best conserved parts of the planet.
Nearby, a colony of penguins waddles along a giant block of floating ice.
A humpback whale comes to the surface for some air during a stint in the region for the austral summer — a time for feeding and building up energy before their massive trek to warmer climes around the equator in the breeding season.
Bonilla describes the first time she heard whale song underwater as having “changed her life.”
Scientists have warned that rising ocean temperatures are impacting whales’ body clock and migration cycles, as well as killing off krill, the tiny crustaceans they need to fatten up for annual journeys of thousands of kilometers.
Whale communication has also been found to be affected by noise at sea from shipping and other activity, which can disorient them.
“In a marine environment sound is essential,” Bonilla said, adding that any interruption can affect some species ability to hunt.
Weddell seals and leopard seals also emit high-pitched songs in different tones and often harmonious compositions.
During their expedition the scientists install three underwater microphones, two in the Bransfield Strait and one in the Drake Passage.
The team also follows a set of coordinates to find the buoy left by Bonilla a year ago. When they are within 300m of it, she can send remote signals to find its exact location.
Her delighted teammates pat her on the back as she successfully retrieves the hydrophone from 500m deep.
“I am so excited because it was the first time we did this maneuver in these waters. It all went super well,” Bonilla said.
The scientists are to use spectrograms — a visual representation of sound — to extract information not only about the movement of marine mammals, but also geophysics.
The hydrophones also capture low frequencies that can pick up the sounds of earthquakes or melting ice.
The research has another goal, supporting a proposal pushed by Chile and Argentina since 2012 to convert the Antarctic Peninsula into a protected marine area.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS