Military sonars are so loud that if you happened to be idly floating near one (let’s say closer than 500 meters away) as it does one of its strongest pings, your entire body would cavitate into pink mist; it’s weakest ping would rupture every organ in your body instantly, all of your bones would fracture in place and some of your blood at the skin surface would boil from the sonars ping causing rapid pressure changes right in front of whatever is supposed to remain of your face.
Imagine standing next to a hundred grenades as they all simultaneously explode, but also pretend you are spared from the heat wave of the explosion and not the blast wave.
There’s two types of military SONAR: active and passive. Active SONAR is using pings and listening for the echo, but it’s not very commonly used by submarines. Passive sonar is just listening out for engine noise from ships and prop noise from other submarines. Warships use active SONAR more because they’re already noisy and so if they think an enemy submarine is in the area they’ll use it to try and locate, but in peacetime it’s mostly reserved for training exercises. It’s still terrible for wildlife, even if they don’t die it’s very distressing and disorientating but it’s not constantly scanning like a RADAR.
Sonar systems[…]generate slow-rolling sound waves topping out at around 235 decibels[…]. These sound waves can travel for hundreds of miles under water, and can retain an intensity of 140 decibels as far as 300 miles from their source.
140 dB is a gunshot at the source. About 190 in air pressure will cause an explosive shockwave that can kill a person. 235 dB in dense water pressure is…somewhat more violent, as we understand how the decibal curve works and molecular pressure at depth.
But that means that a person would be killed even if they are miles away? Maybe tens of miles.
Found it:
Based on sonar guidelines and studies on sound propagation, a diver exposed to 235 dB low-frequency sonar would likely need to be more than 1.5–2 kilometers (1–1.2 miles) away to ensure safety.
However, pings are conical and the strongest sonar is at the bow. So you could literally be safe if you were diving behind it.
Not exactly, navy sonar has history of kills, but I haven’t heard of something shattering into pink mess by that. Though military stuffs aren’t always public.
Military sonars are so loud that if you happened to be idly floating near one (let’s say closer than 500 meters away) as it does one of its strongest pings, your entire body would cavitate into pink mist; it’s weakest ping would rupture every organ in your body instantly, all of your bones would fracture in place and some of your blood at the skin surface would boil from the sonars ping causing rapid pressure changes right in front of whatever is supposed to remain of your face.
Imagine standing next to a hundred grenades as they all simultaneously explode, but also pretend you are spared from the heat wave of the explosion and not the blast wave.
Wait a minute
Have we been pulping marine wildlife this whole time? I just connected the dots there
Yep. Its fucked. Literally drives whales to beach themselves.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar
Like 10,000 dolphins were killed in the black sea in 2022 because of sonar.
That’s fucked. Hopefully aliens do the same thing to Earth soon.👽
Hey, man. Why do you hate dolphins so much that you want aliens to kill another 10,000?
Ah the ol’ switchroo
The ol Lemmyaroo.
Aw, we don’t have a Lemmy switchroo link tree yet.
There’s two types of military SONAR: active and passive. Active SONAR is using pings and listening for the echo, but it’s not very commonly used by submarines. Passive sonar is just listening out for engine noise from ships and prop noise from other submarines. Warships use active SONAR more because they’re already noisy and so if they think an enemy submarine is in the area they’ll use it to try and locate, but in peacetime it’s mostly reserved for training exercises. It’s still terrible for wildlife, even if they don’t die it’s very distressing and disorientating but it’s not constantly scanning like a RADAR.
140 dB is a gunshot at the source. About 190 in air pressure will cause an explosive shockwave that can kill a person. 235 dB in dense water pressure is…somewhat more violent, as we understand how the decibal curve works and molecular pressure at depth.
But that means that a person would be killed even if they are miles away? Maybe tens of miles.
Found it: Based on sonar guidelines and studies on sound propagation, a diver exposed to 235 dB low-frequency sonar would likely need to be more than 1.5–2 kilometers (1–1.2 miles) away to ensure safety.
However, pings are conical and the strongest sonar is at the bow. So you could literally be safe if you were diving behind it.
This R*ddit comment suggests that it’s only close-range that it’s reliably lethal.
Every 10dB is twice as much energy, so 235 dB is pretty scary.
What about aquatic animals?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar
That’s what I want to know now as well!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar
I think people are missing that this is extreme exaggeration.
Well now I don’t know what to believe
It is not exaggeration, military sonars are no joke (hint they are powered by nuclear reactors) :
https://www.slashgear.com/1337068/terrifying-effect-submarine-radar-humans/
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/93222/could-submarine-sonar-kill-a-diver
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-military-sonar-kill/
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/17yy851/how_dangerous_is_active_sonar_for_divers/
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/marine-mammals/listening-clues-about-sonars-effects-marine-mammals
https://www.rmhcene.org/environmental-implications-of-using-sonar-technology
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar
Not exactly, navy sonar has history of kills, but I haven’t heard of something shattering into pink mess by that. Though military stuffs aren’t always public.
It was fun to read though. But I believed it until I checked.