Iceberg disintegrations make the oceans noisier for months, and in the low frequencies that might affect marine mammals.

Researchers led by Haru Matsumoto at Oregon State University in Newport studied ocean hydrophone recordings from across the Southern Hemisphere. They found that noise levels rose throughout the southern Pacific Ocean for 1.5 years after two huge icebergs disintegrated near Antarctica between 2007 and 2009. The signal was detected even north of the equator.

Geochem. Geophys. Geosys. http://doi.org/txf (2014)