Bloop
50°00′00″S 100°00′00″W / 50.000000°S 100.000000°W
The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency and extremely powerful underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) several times during the summer of 1997. The source of the sound remains unknown.
Analysis
The sound, traced to somewhere around 50° S 100° W (a remote point in the south Pacific Ocean west of the southern tip of South America), 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." NOAA's system ruled out its origin as any known man-made sound, such as a submarine or bomb, or familiar geological sounds such as volcanoes or earthquakes. While the audio profile of the bloop does resemble that of a living creature, the system identified it as unknown because it was far too loud for that to have been the case: it was several times louder than the loudest known biological sound. Five other significant unexplained sounds have been named by NOAA: Julia, Train, Slowdown, Whistle, and Upsweep.[1][2][3][4][5]
Dr. Christopher Fox of the NOAA speculated that the Bloop may be ice calving in Antarctica.[6] A year later Dr. Fox was paraphrased speculating it was likely animal in origin. [7]
In popular culture
- In an alternate reality game promoting the movie, the Bloop was linked to the monster from Cloverfield.[8]
- In The Loch by Steve Alten the Bloop is the call of an undiscovered species of giant eel.
- In Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore the source of the Bloop is a living colony known as the "Goo".
- In Frank Schätzing's novel The Swarm the Bloop is the speech of the intelligent species, the Yrr.
- People have pointed out that the location of the sound originated within 500 miles from the location of R'lyeh in the South Pacific, thus coincidentally linking the sound to the sleeping, Great Old One Cthulhu in the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Alan Bellows (2006-04-23). "The Call Of The Bloop". Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ "The bloop - An Unexplained Phenomenon [Actual Sound]". 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ "Tuning in to a deep sea monster". CNN. 2002-06-13. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ "Acoustics Monitoring Program". Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ David Wolman (2002-06-15). "Calls from the deep". New Scientist. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ "Scientists tune in to sounds of the sea". CNN. 2001-09-07. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
- ^ David Wolman (2002-06-15). "Calls from the deep". New Scientist. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
- ^ "Bloop!". J.J. Abrams' Projects. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/08/strange-sounds-earth-bloop-hum-mistpouffers/
External links
- Skeptoid #177 on the Bloop
- A possible second datafile and amateur analysis of the Bloop, with NOAA cited sources
- Beware the Bloop