Oceans (11)


by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) 


illustration only

Global temperatures directly affect the acidity of the ocean, which in turn changes the acoustical properties of sea water. New research suggests that global warming may give Earth's oceans the same hi-fi sound qualities they had more than 100 million years ago, during the Age of the Dinosaurs.

The reason for this surprising communication upgrade is that whales vocalize in the low-frequency sound range, typically less than 200 hertz, and the new research predicts that by the year 2100, global warming will acidify saltwater sufficiently to make low-frequency sound near the ocean surface travel significantly farther than it currently does - perhaps twice as far.

Rhode Island acoustician David G. Browning, lead scientist on the research team, will present his findings at the 164th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), held Oct. 22 - 26 in Kansas City, Missouri.

He explains the sea change this way: "We call it the Cretaceous acoustic effect, because ocean acidification forced by global warming appears to be leading us back to the similar ocean acoustic conditions as those that existed 110 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs."

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US Open Water Swimmer Dies During Race

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=txswimmerdies
FINA World Cup, in the UAE off of Dubai. The water was mid-to-high 80s, which is very hot. Said to be unusually hot, swimmers said have never swam in such hot water. Oceans heating up?

Competitors all described the conditions as unusually hot, but would not comment about Crippen’s death.

“These are very hot conditions for swimming,” said Thomas Lurz of Germany, who won the men’s race.

Evgeny Drattsev of Russia, who came in second, admitted he had never competed in such warm conditions before.

“The water was really hot and it was a kind of new experience for me here,” he said.
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