Of Mermaids, “The Bloop” & Unidentified Sea Noises

In the aftermath of the mermaid movie shown on Animal Planet Sunday night, I’ve been reading a lot of comments on the internet that prove there is a lot of confusion about mermaids (see my earlier posting “Of Mermaids and Movie Men …” at the link below) and The Bloop which many are saying must be a new undersea creature of immense proportions or a sound made by actual mermaids.

https://visitcryptoville.com/2012/05/27/of-mermaids-and-movie-men-animal-planets-mermaid-movie/

Let’s look into this. What is the Bloop and could a mermaid make that noise?

NOAA and the Bloop

The Bloop was an undersea noise recorded in 1997 by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor the seas for sounds as part of their scientific research. Here’s what it sounded like as recorded by NOAA’s SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System):

This was the only time that this noise has been recorded – so far.

The Bloop volume is several times louder than the noise produced by the blue whale, which makes the loudest noise of all the recorded animals on earth. Blue whales grow to 100 feet long and can weigh upwards of 200 tons. Because they’re so big, they can make a huge noise.

If mermaids existed, they’d be about our size, give or take the size of a swimming fluke or something. They couldn’t physically make the sound of the Bloop, it would be a biological impossibility.

Just the Facts

So what could make a noise as loud as the Bloop? That’s hard to determine. Let’s begin by looking at some facts:

  • The sound originated in a remote area of the South Pacific ocean 1750 km (nearly 1100 miles) off the west coast of Chile in a very deep part of the ocean. The water in that area is 4300 meters (2.67 miles) deep.
  • The sound has only been recorded once, so far.
  • The actual sound is at such a low frequency that human ears could barely hear it.
  • Scientists were able to calculate that the Bloop traveled over 3000 miles to reach their sensors. No other whale calls match the sound of the Bloop.

If you’d like to see a Google map location of where the noise came from follow this link:

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50s+100w&mrt=all&sll=35.740492,-78.757967&sspn=0.249405,0.208054&ie=UTF8&t=h&source=embed&z=3&vpsrc=0

Researchers have compared the Bloop to several other known sounds that match its frequency range.  Think of a frequency range like the range a human singer can hit. A soprano sings in the high register of notes, an alto a little lower, a tenor is lower still, and a basso is the lowest of all. So a noise’s frequency runs within a small range of sound that distinguishes it from other sounds.

Here’s a rundown of those:

  • Small boat engines in the same hertz range as the Bloop – not a match.
  • Earthquakes – not a match.
  • Underwater volcano – not a match.
  • Other whales and marine animals —  no matches
  • Other unknown recordings from under the sea – nothing matches the Bloop.

There are places on the internet where you can reference these other noises and compare for yourself, but I listened to them and am satisfied they don’t match the Bloop.

More Likely Suspects

There are other possibilities:

  • Earth science phenomena that we don’t yet know about or understand.
  • Gas bubble eruptions and vents undersea (think Yellowstone National Park with its geysers, etc., but under water)
  • Man made noises most likely military related that the militarys from around the world aren’t willing to discuss.

The NOAA agency has been recording undersea sounds for at least decades and they readily admit they have quite a collection of unidentified noises. The Bloop was heard once in 1997, but prior to that and since then other mysterious noises have been recorded.

However, just because something is unidentified doesn’t mean it has to be scary. There is much to earth science that we don’t understand yet. And who knows what the world’s militarys are experimenting with these days – they’re not going to tell us, that’s for sure!

Mystery Animals?

I read that there are 300 million trillion gallons of water on our planet. I also read that scientists know more about the moon’s surface than we know about the depths of our oceans.

For these reasons, I feel sure there are many many as yet unidentified creatures in our oceans, some that may be quite huge, and some that may be quite small. They may make noises, they may not.

I think it’s prudent to keep an open mind and entertain the possibility that there might be creatures in the sea that can make huge noises. But bear in mind – whales, dolphins, and porpoises all chatter regularly. The Bloop was only heard the one time, so for that reason alone, I doubt it was made by an animal.

My Fantasy

A short time ago I posted a blog about Earth Groaning and noises that were being heard around the world. I’ve been wondering if the phenomenon causing those noises above ground might be causing other unidentified noises below the sea. It could be that some earth science is afoot and we’re hearing these noises for the first time possibly in recorded history.

If you’d like to read that blog, click here:

https://visitcryptoville.com/2012/04/11/earth-groaning-real-man-made-or-debunked/

As we discover more and more about our wonderful world, many secrets will be revealed.  That’s the most exciting journey of all – to discovery!

Til the next time!

13 comments

  1. The earth noises were my first thoughts too. There surely is a lot going on that we have not as yet discovered.

  2. why does the bloop sound like bubbles but on the Mermaid show on Discovery it sounds like dolphins/mermaids whatever??? I am so confused

    • Hi Rebecca! In real life, the bloop sounds like that recording I included in the blog post. But in the movie they enhance sounds and noises to suit their storyline. So don’t worry about what it sounds like in the movie, that is fiction. The real recording (somewhat bubbly) can be heard in the link in the blog post. Hope that helps!!

    • Because it’s a mermaid but he’s probably keeping mermaids out of this some weird shit about the government I bet

  3. Yes that mermaid thing wasn’t real but it did bring up some interesting facts. I never knew of the bloop until then and became instantly intrigued. There is a cryptid (from japan but seen elsewhere at times) called the Ningen (humanoid sea creature) basically it’s like a mermaid but larger like a whale with a face and arms.
    http://forgetomori.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/ningenal.jpg
    I think it’d be interesting! Didn’t think about USOs however. I am a giant fan of cryptids and everything paranormal and phenomena I am very interested in 🙂 So there is another thing to think about. These have also “been caught” on film but I’m not sure if they were edited or not.

  4. It may have been impossable for one mermaid to make the “Bloop” sound,but not a hundred trying to escape a new naval sonar weapon,

    • thats what i thought…why is it so hard for people to accept they dont know everything and that maybe things beyond our current scope of imagination are real? a friend of my parents gave me the idea.. he hadnt left his house in 20 + years and when he finally did he was blown away that the internet existed, and youtube gave him a brain pain..people stop being so assumptive (probably not a real word, i make em up as i go along) he really thought technology was fictional and it took a while for me to convince him it worked and wouldnt kill him or something…maybe we really think something is fictional but maybe, like every great lie, it has much truth to it..otherwise, why would we have soo many tales of mer people from so many random periods of time and places on earth?

  5. The NOASSA (or whatever they’re called) confirmed the Bloop is actually the sound of a glacier breaking. The sounds matched perfectly

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