The Song Under the Arctic Ice
Lower a microphone through the Arctic ice in spring and you'll hear long, spiralling, descending whistles, like something from a science-fiction film.
What was reported
In the Arctic spring, the dark water beneath the sea ice fills with eerie sounds: long, warbling trills that spiral downward in pitch, sometimes lasting a minute or more, and can be heard many kilometres away. People who heard them through the hulls of boats or the ice have compared them to sci-fi sound effects.
Hunters in the far north have long known the sounds, which can sometimes be heard through the ice itself.
Explanations offered
The songs are made by male bearded seals during the breeding season, probably to attract females and warn off rivals. Each male has his own song, and different populations have different 'dialects'. Scientists now use the songs to track the seals, and are studying how melting sea ice and shipping noise affect them.
- When
- Heard every spring
- Where
- Utqiaġvik, Alaska, USA
- Witnesses
- Inuit and Iñupiat hunters, and scientists with hydrophones
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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