The Bloop
📅 1997 · 📍 Southern Pacific Ocean
An extremely loud, ultra-low-frequency underwater sound was picked up by hydrophones thousands of kilometres apart, fuelling theories of a giant sea creature.
What happened
In 1997, underwater microphones (hydrophones) run by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded a powerful, rising low-frequency sound in the remote southern Pacific Ocean. It was detected by sensors more than 5,000 kilometres apart.
Because the sound’s shape resembled noises made by animals, and it was far louder than any known whale, it became famous online as a possible giant unknown creature.
NOAA scientists later recorded similar sounds near Antarctica and concluded that the Bloop was most likely an icequake: a large iceberg cracking and breaking away from an Antarctic glacier.
Timeline
- 1997NOAA hydrophones record the Bloop.
- 2012NOAA concludes the sound is consistent with an icequake.
🔍 The evidence
- The original NOAA hydrophone recording, sped up so humans can hear it.
🤨 The skeptic’s view
- Icequakes: NOAA recorded many similar sounds from icebergs cracking and calving near Antarctica.
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