Navy Sonar Harms Whales

Follow-up on post a few days ago about the oceans getting dangerously noisy. In addition to changes in oceanic chemistry (specifically, greater acidity) allowing greater transmission of human sounds, there is simply more sound. One of the foremost sound sources — the US Navy. The NRDC has a report on Navy Sonar harming whales. Today, October 8th, the Supreme Court heard arguments in case brought by the NRDC to challenge the Navy's adherence to the law. NPR's Nina Totenberg covered this. See also the Los Angeles Times | National Geographic | Nature | the BBC.

Pathogens Accumulate in Sealife

Oceanus, a magazine put out by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has a piece on "a wide variety of disease-causing microbes" found in marine wildlife. Human activity has played at least some role — introducing microbes to the sea through various kinds of waste, fostering antibiotic resistant organisms, etc.

Acidic Oceans

A few days ago, I posted an account of how the oceans are becoming noisier as a result of increasing acidity. Here is another story from Britain's Observer on growing oceanic acidity.

Seas Becoming Noisier

This has been a concern for several years, not least because of massive sonar arrays deployed for military purposes. Science magazine has an essay on a new element of this concern -- noise travelling further because of higher acidity in the world's oceans. (Lower pH means higher acidity.)