Bloop

This article is about the underwater sound. For the programming language, see BlooP programming language.

The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration several times during the summer of 1997. The source of the sound remains unknown. A recording of the Bloop is available on [the NOAA website].

Contents

1 Analysis
2 Possibilities
3 References in popular culture
4 Further trivia
5 See also
6 External links

Analysis

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." Though it matches the audio profile of a living creature, there is no known animal that could have produced the sound. If it is an animal it would have to be huge - much larger than even a Blue whale, according to scientists who have studied the phenomenon.

To date there has been no explanation as to what produced the sound. Further efforts to research the sound have been unsuccessful, because it has not been heard since 1997.

Possibilities

It is possible to identify animals by the sounds they make. Normally, when sounds are unidentifiable, they are given names like Whistle, Slowdown, Upsweep, and Train. The Bloop, although it sounded like a blue whale, originated 3,000 miles away, seemingly ruling out any known marine animal. However, some believe that this sound could have been emitted by a whale and carried that distance by warm water currents.

Some postulate that the sound may come from a huge and as-yet-undiscovered species of octopus or squid, or possibly a new species of gigantic whale or fish even larger than the blue whale. Others dispute this, pointing out that that all known cephalopods lack the gas-filled sac necessary to produce this type of sound, and that a cetacean larger than a blue whale would still have to surface for oxygen, making it susceptible to sightings. So it may be a huge fish.

The Bloop theoretically could have been the product of a machine. The frequency of the Bloop technically isn't too low for a machine, but it would be difficult for a machine to produce a sound of such volume.

It is also possible that the sound was made by a large number of creatures emitting a synchronous vibration.

References in popular culture

The electronic band Dntel produced a song entitled "Pillowcase," composed of the Bloop recording.

In Steve Alten's novel "Loch" the main character encounters the Bloop in the Sargasso Sea. It later turns out to be a large and ancient species of eel.

Bloop is also the name of a small water dragon in Thomas Biskup's roguelike game ADOM.

Further trivia

Coincidentally, the geographic coordinates of the sound are somewhat close to those given by H.P. Lovecraft for the lost city of R'lyeh in his Cthulhu stories.

External links

[Tuning in to a deep sea monster] CNN, June 13, 2002
["Bloop"] NOAA Vents Program for Acoustic Monitoring. Has a link to a wav file of the (sped up) sound, as well as a spectrogram.
[A dedicated Bloop-page]