By: Mark Yin

Over the past few years, researcher Lori Adornato, a project manager in the U.S. military, is finding whether using marine life to locate enemy activity is better than blasting sonar into the ocean.

Over the past years, military tensions have been rising. It seems like war is inevitable. America is exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. To further protect our people, America has set up sonar buoys developed by the military. These systems tend to last up to only a few hours due to limited battery life. The work to create a new system has begun.

Pistol shrimp live in colonies like many other marine animals. To communicate with other shrimp, they will snap their claws, creating a small sonar source. In an article published by the BBC, David Hambling quoted Raytheon researcher Alison Laferriere, who said, “the sound varies with the time of day and water temperature, but a shrimp colony is never quiet.” Using different animals like shrimp can possibly create a new way for the military to detect enemy activity.

Using a new way to detect enemy activity with natural sonar sound is not only environmentally healthy, but it is also cost-effective. Creating a detection system that reads marine sonar sources can hopefully detect when a marine animal has seen something like a submarine.

The military is now working on Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors (PALS) to eavesdrop on marine life in order to detect underwater threats.

Link to article: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220616-the-new-sonar-built-from-sealife-noises#:~:text=%22We%20are%20trying%20to%20detect,sound%20that%20its%20source%20generates.%22