What is the Sound of One Hydrothermal Vent Venting?

And if no one is around will it still make a sound? Crone and cronies et al. on the open access PLoS One explore the Sound Generated by Mid-Ocean Ridge Black Smoker Hydrothermal Vents. Although theory predicted sound from venting smokers, current thinking was that they were actual silent. But they’re not! Indeed smokers “radiate significant acoustic energy.” And the coolest part (yes I am a biologist), “Vent sounds will provide researchers with new ways to study flow through sulfide structures, and may provide some local organisms with behavioral or navigational cues.You can listen to the hydrothermal vent diatribe here.

Typical hour-average power spectra derived from the two vent recordings, and the ambient noise recordings. Sharp peaks on the ambient spectra are associated with a nearby research vessel. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000133.g003

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