The Bloop

[Mattshark]

"The sound, traced to somewhere around 50° S 100° W (South American southwest coast), was detected repeatedly by the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array, which uses U.S. Navy equipment originally designed to detect Soviet submarines. According to the NOAA description, it "rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km." According to scientists who have studied the phenomenon it matches the audio profile of a living creature but there is no known animal that could have produced the sound. If it is an animal, it would have to be, reportedly, much larger than even a Blue Whale, the largest known animal on the earth."

From Wikipedia. I know I'll likely be criticized for taking Wiki's Info Seriously; but they patrol the pages often and there is little chance of any misinformation.

Likely a living creature, then. Besides, size restrictions can be defied, if the animal has an extremely adapted body structure. There are creatures that thrive in water at boiling temperature and above; who's to say with certainty that there couldn't be a creature with a highly specialized body structure living that far down? Squid go close to that depth. There's also a possibility the creature could be surviving off nutrients from the Deep-Sea Vents. No one can really say for certain, until we send a probe down to check and see what it is.

Actually that is a direct copy from CNN. However it is not what NOAA said.

NOAA say:

This sound was repeatedly recorded during summer, 1997 on the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array. The sound rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km. It yields a general location near 50oS; 100oW. The origin of the sound is unknown.

NOAA: Bloop

Size restrictions can very much be defined. Pressure is a limiting factor on marine life just as atmospheric O2 is a limiting fact on insect size.

Large squid do not go anywhere close to the depth of hydrothermal vents

Only archaea can survive at boiling temperatures. The maximum being at 121°c. No multicellular organism can tolerate. Certainly no animal can.

Hydrothermal vents are not permanent, they rarely last 10 years. So no they couldn't. The only large thing you get there are worms which are just long and thin and rely on symbiosis.

[psyche101]

Silver Etude I am going to praise you for promoting Wikipedia, as you say the mods are vigilant, and it is not hard to double check. The brief informative write up's there are very helpful for recalling small nuances, or getting a brief overview on a new subject. A great springboard to knowledge. Any free resource for the public that has some housekeepers is a good one.

What about the possibility of millions of tiny organisms, perhaps something that could colonise into a very large whole for certain purposes?

Edited February 24, 2009 by psyche101

[psyche101]

Dunno, but my first guess was also mechanical (though I honestly wouldn't mind something else ).

But the sound would have had to travel one huge distance, it doesn't really sound plausible.

Did you have a listen to the original file I posted? I think it sounds quite different to what Wikipedia has posted.

Just wondering if you hold the same opinion of the realtime version with noise reduction.

[Mattshark]

Did you have a listen to the original file I posted? I think it sounds quite different to what Wikipedia has posted.

Just wondering if you hold the same opinion of the realtime version with noise reduction.

Wiki only has a very short extract though.

It sounds very different to what was released by NOAA though. Since is the original source I think bloopwatch may have altered there sound (though NOAA have sped theirs up).

Edited February 24, 2009 by Mattshark

[catutie]

ya the one psyche posted was way different. all together its just creepy

[Grey14]

My guess is that the earth was just really gassy that year. So the bloop is actually the first recorded Earth Fart. Either that or maybe someone was toying around trying to find the Brown note.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note

[psyche101]

Wiki only has a very short extract though.

It sounds very different to what was released by NOAA though. Since is the original source I think bloopwatch may have altered there sound (though NOAA have sped theirs up).

They do have a copy they have slowed down 16 times, and it is different again, that link is supposedly the original NOAA file with noise reduction applied, I think NOAA only has the sped up version available to the public?

Funny how you get this big WARNNG WILL ROBINSON - THIS FILE is 2.3MB BIG!!!!!!!! in this day and age of broadband access. Does anyone still have dial up?

[Mattshark]

They do have a copy they have slowed down 16 times, and it is different again, that link is supposedly the original NOAA file with noise reduction applied, I think NOAA only has the sped up version available to the public?

Funny how you get this big WARNNG WILL ROBINSON - THIS FILE is 2.3MB BIG!!!!!!!! in this day and age of broadband access. Does anyone still have dial up?

lol

I don't know. I could e-mail Dr Fox who is in charge of this for information regarding it.

[psyche101]

lol

I don't know. I could e-mail Dr Fox who is in charge of this for information regarding it.

You know the guy in charge of investigating this phenomena?

Mattshark, you rock in so many ways. That is so very cool.

I'd be interested to know if the extended version at bloopwatch is indeed the original file, or if NOAA has the original file publicly accessible

Or if he reckons the extended one at bloopwatch is 100% legit.

Thanks!

[Mattshark]

You know the guy in charge of investigating this phenomena?

Mattshark, you rock in so many ways. That is so very cool.

I'd be interested to know if the extended version at bloopwatch is indeed the original file, or if NOAA has the original file publicly accessible

Or if he reckons the extended one at bloopwatch is 100% legit.

Thanks!

Np mate.

Lol, I don't know him personally, but I know a few guys at NOAA so I will see what he says. Fox is not in charge of the acoustic program anymore, but he was up till 2004 so he may still be in possession of information.

E-mail sent, hopefully, it will reveal further information.

Edited February 25, 2009 by Mattshark

[psyche101]

Np mate.

Lol, I don't know him personally, but I know a few guys at NOAA so I will see what he says. Fox is not in charge of the acoustic program anymore, but he was up till 2004 so he may still be in possession of information.

E-mail sent, hopefully, it will reveal further information.

Close enough for me Very cool to be emailing friends at NOAA I appreciate the question being asked.

What a name for that profession huh, if his last name is Mulder I am going to dead set fall of my chair........................

[Mattshark]

Close enough for me Very cool to be emailing friends at NOAA I appreciate the question being asked.

What a name for that profession huh, if his last name is Mulder I am going to dead set fall of my chair........................

Lol It is Christopher Fox.

Here is the e-mail he sent me re: the bloop.

Matt,

First let me thank you for showing me bloopwatch.org! I had no idea

such a site existed. As for the slowed down version of the original

bloop, I think what we're hearing are processing artifacts. The

original hydrophone samples were digitized at 100 samples per second

(due to limitations of batteries, disk drives, etc.) and high-passed

filters at around 1 Hz, so only frequencies from 1 - 50 Hz were

recorded. This works fine for earthquakes, large whales, and whatever

the bloop sound is. Human hearing can just barely make it down to 50

Hz, which is why we sped the signal up to the 16-800 Hz range: so that

it could be heard. Reshifting it down to the original frequency band

would put it below human hearing again, so I have to believe that what

we ARE hearing is some artifact of the processing. Since I seem to have

a knack for naming things, I'll call it the caliope sound, since it

sounds to me like an old steam caliope.

As you noticed, I have moved out of my acoustics research and into

senior management, but I am not aware of any new insights into the bloop

or other sounds. My old Vents group continues to collect data and

recently had hydrophones deployed off Antarctica. I often suspected

that some of these sounds were related to ice processes, since they

always seemed to come from due south, but was never able to verify.

Good luck with your studies. -cf

[S2F]

Lol It is Christopher Fox.

Here is the e-mail he sent me re: the bloop.

Thanks for that Matt, it's nice to hear from someone "in the know", so to speak.

[Mattshark]

Thanks for that Matt, it's nice to hear from someone "in the know", so to speak.

It is nice to be able to get some good information. Also he was really quick to get back to me and a really friendly e-mail. See science is not as cold as people make out.

[catutie]

what is bloopwatch.org??? do you just sit and listen for the sound to happen again???

[Mattshark]

what is bloopwatch.org??? do you just sit and listen for the sound to happen again???

Lol, no it is more about the mixing fiction (Cthulhu) with science (the bloop).

[CurlyQLink]

Science Rocks!!! Thanks Matt for rational behind the bloop. Great stuff!

[MysteryMike]

So does that mean all the bloop is. Is just a some kind of old steam caliope or whatever? (Replying to MattShark)

Edited February 25, 2009 by MysteryMike

[Smithkakarot]

It's totally C'thulhu.

Edited February 25, 2009 by Smithkakarot

[psyche101]

Lol It is Christopher Fox.

Here is the e-mail he sent me re: the bloop.

Hehe, Christopher hey, saved me a fall!

Thank you so very much!!!

Incredibly informative, the sound at Bloopwatch cannot be the original recording. Fascinating.

Ice!! I never would have thought, with the climactic shifts, and atmospheric pressures from El Nino Ice could surely make such a groaning sound.

Either that or The Thing is defrosting LOL.

Very sound theory, no pun intended. Just great to hear it from the people involved. Thanks again m8 I hope we hear this sound again. It could be hugely important to us if a massive geological change is underway. Then again, based on that assumption, maybe I hope we do not hear it again.

For general interest, Sound file - Margie played on JBS steam calliope

Edited February 26, 2009 by psyche101

[catutie]

hm.....ice sounds more logical......more logical than a giant monster that attacks new york and makes movies....yet doesnt get paid (GOD I NEED TO GET OFF THAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!) that would be a HUGE advance ment to geological.....stuff. but i dont think we want to hear it again....what if its an iceburg that is covering a black hole THEN WE WOULD ALL BE IN TROUBLE :w00t:

[Mattshark]

So does that mean all the bloop is. Is just a some kind of old steam caliope or whatever? (Replying to MattShark)

lol, no mate.

A caliope is a musical instrument. NOAA thing the sound is related to ice in the Antarctic.

[catutie]

THATS AN INSTUMENT??? never heard of it.....wait are you talking musical or....elecronical??? lol

[Mattshark]

THATS AN INSTUMENT??? never heard of it.....wait are you talking musical or....elecronical??? lol

Musical

[catutie]

hmmmm never heard of it....and i played the trumpet for a while.....what country does it originate from???