The San Diego, Calif.-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography has resumed a global-warming study off Kaua’i despite objections by islanders who fear it could harm marine mammals. The first underwater acoustic transmissions in the study occurred last Thursday, with aerial surveys
The San Diego, Calif.-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography has resumed a global-warming study off Kaua’i despite objections by islanders who fear it could harm marine mammals.
The first underwater acoustic transmissions in the study occurred last Thursday, with aerial surveys planned this Saturday for federally protected Hawaiian humpback whales and other marine life.
Scripps announced it recently received approval to continue with the North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory (NPAL) project, which involves sound transmitters eight miles north of Kaua’i that send sound waves to the north Pacific.
Last year, more than 50 people at a public hearing in Lihu’e disputed scientists’ contentions that using the underwater signals to gauge the ocean’s temperature would cause little or no harm to sea life.
The project’s proponents claim there’s no evidence of harmful effects.
Last October, Scripps received approval from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to move ahead with the project.
The National Marine Fisheries Service approved the project Jan. 15, and the Navy gave its approval Jan 23, according to a Scripps press release issued Wednesday.
Between 1996 and 1999, Scripps operated what was known as the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate project. The project, since renamed NPAL, studies the Earth’s climate changes, including global warming and rising sea levels.
The underwater speakers emit 260 watts of power received by 11 recording stations scattered around the north Pacific. Scientists theorize the faster the sound reaches those stations, the warmer the water must be.
NPAL is a continuation of ATOC and is funded by the Office of Naval Research and co-sponsored by the Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington.
