Current:Home > MyScientists are using microphones to measure how fast glaciers are melting-LoTradeCoin
Scientists are using microphones to measure how fast glaciers are melting
View Date:2024-12-23 20:46:16
Rising global temperatures are melting our planet's glaciers, but how fast?
Scientists traditionally have relied on photography or satellite imagery to determine the rate at which glaciers are vanishing, but those methods don't tell us what's going on beneath the surface. To determine that, scientists have begun listening to glaciers using underwater microphones called hydrophones.
So, what do melting glaciers sound like?
"You hear something that sounds a lot like firecrackers going off or bacon frying. It's a very impulsive popping noise, and each of those pops is generated by a bubble bursting out into the water," Grant Deane, a research oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who told Morning Edition.
Deane says he was inspired by a 2008 paper co-authored by renowned oceanographer Wolfgang Berger, and hopes that listening and understanding these glacial noises will help him and his colleagues predict sea level rise.
"If we can count the bubbles being released into the water from the noises that they make, and if we know how many bubbles are in the ice, we can figure out how quickly the ice is melting. We need to know how quickly the ice is melting because that tells us how quickly the glaciers are going to retreat. We need to understand these things if we're going to predict sea level rise accurately," Deane says.
And predicting sea level rise is crucial, as hundreds of millions of people are at risk around the world — including the 87 million Americans who live near the coastline. Deane says that even a modest rise in sea levels could have devastating impacts on those communities.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
- Horoscopes Today, December 3, 2023
- If Taylor Swift is living in Kansas City, here's what locals say she should know
- Europe’s world-leading artificial intelligence rules are facing a do-or-die moment
- Nearly 80,000 pounds of Costco butter recalled for missing 'Contains Milk statement': FDA
- Opening arguments begin in Jonathan Majors trial
- Eagles vs. 49ers final score, highlights: San Francisco drubs Philadelphia
- 50 Fascinating Facts About Jay-Z: From Marcy to Madison Square
- NFL coaches diversity report 2024: Gains at head coach, setbacks at offensive coordinator
- White House warns Congress the US is out of money, nearly out of time to avoid ‘kneecap’ to Ukraine
Ranking
- Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
- AP PHOTOS: 2023 was marked by coups and a Moroccan earthquake on the African continent
- If Taylor Swift is living in Kansas City, here's what locals say she should know
- How to strengthen your immune system for better health, fewer sick days this winter
- Stop What You're Doing—Moo Deng Just Dropped Her First Single
- Watchdog: Western arms companies failed to ramp up production capacity in 2022 due to Ukraine war
- North Korea accuses US of double standards for letting South Korea launch spy satellite from US soil
- DeSantis reaches Iowa campaign milestone as Trump turns his focus to Biden
Recommendation
-
Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
-
Police in Greece allege that rap singer blew up and robbed cash machines to pay for music videos
-
50 Fascinating Facts About Jay-Z: From Marcy to Madison Square
-
U.N. climate talks head says no science backs ending fossil fuels. That's incorrect
-
Todd Golden to continue as Florida basketball coach despite sexual harassment probe
-
Mega Millions winning numbers for Dec. 1 drawing: Jackpot now at $355 million
-
'SNL' sends off George Santos with song, Tina Fey welcomes Emma Stone into Five-Timers Club
-
Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announces run for Virginia governor in 2025