© Earth Imaging/The Image Bank/Getty Images Pacific Ocean 

Scientists and deep-sea researchers have been left questioning a mysterious sound picked up in the deepest known part of the world's ocean.


Researchers from Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Centre picked-up an echoey, wailing noise while monitoring deep-sea whale communications in the Mariana Trench, north of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.

The trench lies between Japan to the north and Australia to the south, and is up to 10,972m deep.

Marine researchers sent a hydrophone - a special device which can dive up to 1000m below sea level - into the deepest part of the trench.

The noise hits incredibly high, then incredibly low frequencies and lasts between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds.

"It’s very distinct, with all these crazy parts," Oregon State University senior marine bioacoustics researcher Sharon Nieukirk said.

"The low-frequency moaning part is typical of baleen whales, and it’s that kind of twangy sound that makes it really unique. We don’t find many new baleen whale calls."

Researchers have named the bizarre sound the "Western Pacific Biotwang" and believe it resembles the "boing" sound produced by dwarf minke whales on the Great Barrier Reef.

"We don’t really know that much about minke whale distribution at low latitudes," Ms Nieukirk said.

"If it’s a mating call, why are we getting it year round? That’s a mystery." SILA RUJUK DISINI
by noreply@blogger.com (Rakyat Sembang) via BERITA RAKYAT