OCEAN NOISE AMPLIFICATION

OCEAN NOISE AMPLIFICATION

Shipping traffic in some parts of the ocean could be five times louder by the end of the century and affect many marine species that rely on sound for communication, finding mates, and detecting prey. Temperature and seawater pH affect how easily sound travels through it. Some of the CO2 released into the atmosphere gets dissolved in the ocean, lowering its pH, making it more acidic and decreasing absorption of low-frequency sounds, enabling them to travel farther. The main effect of climate change on the ocean soundscape though will come from changes in ocean temperature.

www.ioa.org.uk/news/research-finds-ocean-noise-increasing-climate-change