Declassified Navy documents allow comparisons that points to global shipping as the likely reason behind increase in undersea noise pollution. With populations increasing around the globe in recent decades, no one would be surprised by an increase in the amount of noise produced in terrestrial environments. Now, a unique study involving MPL researchers has shown that the underwater world also is becoming a noisier place, with unknown effects on marine life. New research published in the August 2006 issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) has shown a tenfold increase in underwater ocean noise off Southern California's coast as compared with the 1960s. Read the full article from the Scripps News site >>

High-frequency acoustic recording package (HARP) disk/electronics compartment used to record ocean noises from the ocean bottom