The Unexpectedly Loud Sound of Deep-Sea Mining

Although buffered from human ears by leagues of water, deep-sea mining is a noisy enterprise that, per an article in the journal Science, “is understudied and largely overlooked.” If we can’t hear it, why should we care?

Interest in deep-sea mining increases as we seek rare metals and elements. A team led by Rob Williams (Oceans Initiative, Seattle) has expressed concern about the impact of noise, which few have considered.

It turns out that creatures such as whales can be severely impacted when we create a noisy ocean. is has long been shown per studies of shipping lanes, naval military drills and sonar. According to Williams and his colleagues, we need to consider “acoustic masking, behavior disruptions, stress, and hearing loss” among whales and other marine species if we are to consider initiating and/or vastly ramping up deep-sea mining. ey’ve developed models showing noise from deep-sea mining will be far from benign, even if we can’t hear it.