Tatiana Ilyina and Richard E. Zeebe of the University of Hawaii and Peter G. Brewer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have discovered another hazardous consequence of rising carbon dioxide emissions. The study revealed with the increasing level of CO2 in the atmosphere oceans will end up becoming louder. The researchers found that the rising amount of CO2 in the air leads to more acidic seas that results in producing fewer sound-absorbing chemical reactions, which means noise will travel farther and be louder.
For their study, the scientists made use of a global ocean model and projections of CO2 emissions, to predict regional changes in acidity, and thus sound absorption. This helped them find that in high latitudes and deepwater formations (areas where acidification is expected to be worse), sound absorption could fall by 60 percent.
Although, the researchers have reached a conclusion that low frequency sounds (1,000 – 5,000 hertz) such as ship propellers and military sonar will be louder, but what impact it will have on marine life is not yet known. So, the lives of marine mammals, which use sounds in the same range for communication and echolocation while foraging as that of these man-made sounds will be disturbed immensely. This scenario will also help the animals, as they will be able to communicate over longer distances. The study is being developed further using more sophisticated models and more precise sound sources.
Via: YahooGreen