THE big blue ocean is about to get noisier, because sound can now travel further than it did a century ago – thanks to carbon emissions making oceans more acidic.
It has been known for some time that acidity can influence how far sound travels in seawater. In the 1970s, acoustic measurements showed that the reach of low-frequency sounds varies between oceans. A whale’s call, for example, travels further in the north Pacific than in the north Atlantic, due to differences in pH.
Exactly how the difference arises is unclear, especially at frequencies below 1 kilohertz, which includes whale calls,…
