Mysterious Marine Sounds

Today I woke up with three strange desires- to brush my teeth, to buy a Nintendo 3DS and to write the thing I’m going to write about now. And while I didn’t do the first two, I’m definitely going to tell you about what I found out about not long ago that I think is very intriguing- the strange, unidentified underwater sounds in the Pacific Ocean. The thing isn’t exactly news, to be honest but I was surprised I’m hearing about it for the first time ever. 

All of the sounds (6 in total) were first heard somewhere around the 90’s, but what’s strange is that 4 of them were discovered in the same year- 1997. All of them are recorded by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Also, have in mind that all of the recordings you’ll be hearing aren’t in real time but are 10x their original speed.

Bloop

Probably the most notorious of them all is the Bloop. With an estimated location somewhere near 50 degrees S; 100 degrees W and unknown origin, the sound was repeatedly recorded during summer, 1997 and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km! That’s louder than any animal known to man. Experts at the NOAA don’t believe it’s man-made and and is very unlikely to be a living creature. Probably Lovecraft fans can give us more detail on that.

Upsweep

Upsweep is roughly located at 54 S, 140 W and was first heard in 1991. The sound is loud enough to be recorded throughout the Pacific. It appears to be seasonal, generally reaching peaks in spring and fall. The overall source level has been declining since 1991 but the sounds can still be detected. While it’s said that it is highly unlikely for the source to be man-made or of biological origins, experts suggest that underwater volcanic activity may have caused Upsweep.

Slowdown

 

This one has got to be the creepiest of them all. I still remember when I  first heard it. A million bricks have been shat that night. When it was first recorded in May 19, 1997 somewhere near 15 W, 115 S the sound was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on three sensors, at a range of nearly 2000 km. It was not heard of ever before or since. When the guys at NOAA first discovered it, they thought it was some kind of machinery that was making it so they consulted the US Navy to see if it was some kind of fancy military equipment being put to the test. However, the answer was a definite “No”, as they weren’t even aware of such a sound. After some research, a hypothesis has been suggested, claiming that Slowdown had been caused by a massive friction phenomenon, possibly involving glacier movements. 

The three other unidentified sounds you can listen to are Julia, Whistle and Train. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find sufficient information on those, as they seem to be the least known about of all six.

Now, ironically, I‘m not a big mystery nut. I know people who can talk on for hours about UFOs, conspiracies, lights in the sky, ghosts, vampires and all other crap like that, but I’m not like that. Yet, for some reason those sounds have definitely grabbed my attention. 

Feel free to let me know what you think about it in the comments.