Accession Number:

ADA289582

Title:

Low-Frequency Sound and Marine Mammals Current Knowledge and Research Needs.

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s):

Report Date:

1994-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

88.0

Abstract:

By passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act MMPA of 1972, the United States acknowledged through public policy that marine mammals are a valuable national resource to be protected. Various human activities affect marine mammals and such activities are being discussed as part of the national debate during the reauthorization of the MMPA. A crucial element in the debate is the conflicting demands of protecting and conserving marine mammals versus allowing human activities that are considered important to the nation but that might affect marine mammals. In particular, the issue of whether and how low-frequency sound might affect marine mammals has escalated to national attention because of a proposal to repeatedly measure the speed of sound in the ocean over time to determine if the ocean and the global atmosphere are warming. The Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate ATOC project proposes to use low-frequency sound along long-distance undersea paths. -BKA

Descriptors:

• *MAMMALS
• *ENDANGERED SPECIES
• *NOISE POLLUTION
• *UNDERWATER SOUND
• *BIOACOUSTICS
• SURFACE WAVES
• NATURAL RESOURCES
• OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA
• BARRIERS
• MANMADE
• SEISMIC WAVES
• MARINE BIOLOGY
• EXPOSURE(PHYSIOLOGY)
• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
• FISHERIES
• SOUND PRESSURE
• THRESHOLDS(PHYSIOLOGY)
• LOW FREQUENCY
• HEARING
• OCEAN SURVEILLANCE
• ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
• WARNING SYSTEMS
• AQUATIC ANIMALS
• AUDITORY PERCEPTION
• DEEP DIVING
• SEALS(MAMMALS)
• WHALES
• CARNIVORA
• CETACEA

Subject Categories:

• Ecology
• Biological Oceanography
• Acoustics
• Noise Pollution and Control

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE