New Recordings Of Ultrasonic Seal Calls Hint At Sonar-Like Abilities
I’m sitting on the edge of a hole drilled through 15 feet of Antarctic sea ice, about to descend into the frigid ocean of the southernmost dive site in the world.
Scientist and seal, under the Antarctic ice.
I wear nearly 100 pounds of gear – a drysuit and gloves, multiple layers of insulation, scuba tank and regulators, lights, equipment, fins and over 40 pounds of lead to counteract all that added buoyancy.
Divers inside the shelter hut prepare to drop into the ocean. McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, CC BY-ND
I do a final check with my dive buddies: Air? Hoses? Weights? Then, one by one, we put in our mouthpieces, plop into the hole and sink out of sight into the dark.
As we frog-kick along, following our lights toward the work site, a Weddell seal glides by with a few effor...