Bubble Curtains: Can They Dampen Offshore Energy Sound for Whales?

Sound is energy in the form of a wave. In the dark depths of the sea, whales and other marine mammals use gentle sound pulses to communicate about feeding, mating, and to keep their groups together.
But as humans increasingly plumb the ocean for their own forms of energy, the loud sounds of exploration, development, and construction send powerful waves that can confuse and harm even the mightiest denizens of the deep.
Offshore oil and wind power companies are studying an unusual but promising means of lessening the impact of sound on marine mammals: bubble curtains. Adapting a technique that proved successful in underwater bridge building, energy firms are testing the benefits of surrounding their operations with walls of bubbles that actually alter the shape of the noise waves.
It is too early to say whether the method will be effective. But research into this technology and other means of dampening human sound will be crucial for marine mammals living in the Arctic and coastal habitats now being eyed for their vast fossil and renewable energy potential.
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