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scrag · 03-15-07, 10:02 PM

I am always amazed at the "Active Sonar kills Marine Mammal" crap that is in the press. Been in the Sonar buisness 20 plus years - weird part was there was a lot read (100 X ) of high power active used in the cold war by both sides (majority by skimmers) and you never heard of the massive beachings by various cetacean species. Now a DD goes active and the suppossedly "smart cetacean" beaches itself the DD is automatically faulted. There are a number of references to "Beaked Whales" beaching in the vicinity of Navy Exercise (largely US) but little is mentioned about beachings in other area of known concentrations of Naval Forces (ie those of the Russia or China) Why? It is also mentioned that the symptoms suffered by whales is similar to the Bends or Nitrogyn Narcosis (gas bubbles formed in the blood stream) which can lead to death - why because in humans it is associated by a rapid change of depth (deep to shallow) with an inadequate dwell time at depths that allow the body to adjust. So are the whales changing depth too quickly? No one knows for certain - but it is also not conclusive that the whales are being killed or given the bends by Actice Sonar. Funny part about all this is that the loudest living thing in the world is in fact a Blue Whale which is at 190 dB//uPa as well as the Humback Whale at 180 - 186 dB//uPA. This is as loud as most Sonars employed today.

03-15-07, 10:02 PM	#19
scrag Medic Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Posts: 161 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Ow My super sensative whale ear hurts WAAAA!!! I am always amazed at the "Active Sonar kills Marine Mammal" crap that is in the press. Been in the Sonar buisness 20 plus years - weird part was there was a lot read (100 X ) of high power active used in the cold war by both sides (majority by skimmers) and you never heard of the massive beachings by various cetacean species. Now a DD goes active and the suppossedly "smart cetacean" beaches itself the DD is automatically faulted. There are a number of references to "Beaked Whales" beaching in the vicinity of Navy Exercise (largely US) but little is mentioned about beachings in other area of known concentrations of Naval Forces (ie those of the Russia or China) Why? It is also mentioned that the symptoms suffered by whales is similar to the Bends or Nitrogyn Narcosis (gas bubbles formed in the blood stream) which can lead to death - why because in humans it is associated by a rapid change of depth (deep to shallow) with an inadequate dwell time at depths that allow the body to adjust. So are the whales changing depth too quickly? No one knows for certain - but it is also not conclusive that the whales are being killed or given the bends by Actice Sonar. Funny part about all this is that the loudest living thing in the world is in fact a Blue Whale which is at 190 dB//uPa as well as the Humback Whale at 180 - 186 dB//uPA. This is as loud as most Sonars employed today.