Underwater microphones in the Pacific picked up a powerful, rising sound that NOAA named the Bloop. It was traced to a remote spot in the South Pacific, west of the tip of South America. For years people wondered if a giant creature had made it.
Truth label: Established. Strong evidence and broad agreement among experts.
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The answer
Scientists later matched it to an icequake, a huge crack or break in Antarctic ice. Similar sounds were recorded from a breaking iceberg near South Georgia in 2008.
From mystery to known
By around 2012 there was broad agreement that the Bloop came from ice, not an animal.
Learn
- Pinning it down. Several hydrophones heard it, so NOAA could roughly triangulate the source to around 50 degrees south, 100 degrees west.
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What do scientists think made the Bloop?
Breaking ice. It matches the sound of a large icequake.
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