Event Title
Location
Mannoni Performing Arts Center
Start Date
15-10-2015 7:00 PM
Description
Sound in the ocean can travel for long distances, particularly at relatively low frequencies. Electromagnetic waves, such as visible light or radar signals, are strongly damped in the marine environment.
Man-made sounds in the ocean can therefore be both a useful probe of the environment and an environmental concern. Since the speed of sound in water depends on the temperature, long-range transmissions can be used as a way to measure the average temperature of a large region of the ocean.
This type of data is extremely useful in studying climate, both in short-term weather prediction and in long-term assessment of climate change.
The same acoustic properties of the ocean, however, mean that man-made sound in the ocean can persist for long distances and potentially impact marine life. Shipping noise and the sound used in petroleum exploration, for example, might have an effect on marine mammal behavior.
Careful study of the way man-made sound propagates in the ocean is necessary in order to both benefit from its use as a probe and understand the extent and nature of a problem it presents.
Ocean Acoustics and the Environment
Mannoni Performing Arts Center
Sound in the ocean can travel for long distances, particularly at relatively low frequencies. Electromagnetic waves, such as visible light or radar signals, are strongly damped in the marine environment.
Man-made sounds in the ocean can therefore be both a useful probe of the environment and an environmental concern. Since the speed of sound in water depends on the temperature, long-range transmissions can be used as a way to measure the average temperature of a large region of the ocean.
This type of data is extremely useful in studying climate, both in short-term weather prediction and in long-term assessment of climate change.
The same acoustic properties of the ocean, however, mean that man-made sound in the ocean can persist for long distances and potentially impact marine life. Shipping noise and the sound used in petroleum exploration, for example, might have an effect on marine mammal behavior.
Careful study of the way man-made sound propagates in the ocean is necessary in order to both benefit from its use as a probe and understand the extent and nature of a problem it presents.