Scientists have solve the ‘alien song’ mystery, first heard from the ocean floor ten years ago.
Noises emerging from the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, a 36,000-deep trench that is home to myriad bizarre creatures, have left scientists confused for a decade.
Researchers first recorded unrecognisable sounds coming from the trench n 2014, each sound lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds.
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Having no clue what these sounds were, they labelled them “biotwangs”, which means unidentified sounds, and filed them away.
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Strange noises were recorded again in 2016, a team of researchers used underwater gilders to conduct acoustic surveys the the Pacific’s deep waters, and heard sounds that came out at around 38 and 8,000 hertz. This led to the theory the sounds could have been a new baleen whale could call.
Now, however, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have re-examined the files and have solved the mystery. And alien life form are not behind them.
Researchers re-examined the noised using acoustic and visual data, and found that the sounds are Bryde’s whales calls.
(Image: Getty Images)
The finding was detailed in a new study, led by Dr Ann Allen, published in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal. It explained: “It was assumed to be produced by a baleen whale, but without visual verification it was impossible to assign a species.
“Using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data collected in the Mariana Archipelago, we determined that biotwangs are produced by Bryde’s whales.”
Researchers used artificial intelligence to confirm their findings and monitor the historical data.
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The study continued: “We used a combination of manual and machine learning annotation methods to detect biotwangs in our extensive historical passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected across the central and western North Pacific.
“We identified a consistent seasonal presence of biotwangs in the Mariana Archipelago and to the east at Wake Island, with occasional occurrence as far away as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and near the equator (Howland Island).”
Dr Allen believes the biotwangs could be a contact call, similar to ‘Marco Polo’, but would “need more information before we can say for sure”, reports Popular Science.
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