At 12:33 PM 2/4/2005, you wrote:
>Standing on the shore of Icy Straights (opposite the entrance to
>Glacier Bay) in Alaska one June evening, 6 of those in the
>bioacoustic group I was leading were engulfed by this compelling wave
>of infrasound which we couldn't actually hear but could only feel
>resonating throughout our bodies. I figure it was somewhere around 12
>- 14Hz given the periodicity. It was, as they say in the vernacular,
>an awesome moment. Seemingly coming from everywhere, we had no idea
>what it was since there was nothing mechanical we could see and the
>nearest human dwelling was 8 miles across from where we stood. I've
>heard this phenomenon twice in Alaska. Once in that location. Once on
>the outer shore of Yakutat.
>
>Bernie Krause
You are sure it wasn't a nearby Fin Whale? I don't know their June
ranges. They have been widely reported to shake everything including the
ground with their 18 Hz (or so) shouting (e.g. c.f. F. Mowat, A Whale for
the Killing). Roger Payne once told me it is the loudest sound made by any
animal. Of course all low-pitched sounds cannot be directionally located,
as the phase differences for small animals like us are near zero. ;^)
-- best regards, Marty Michener
MIST Software Assoc. Inc., P. O. Box 269, Hollis, NH 03049
http://www.enjoybirds.com/
Don't blame me, I vote in New Hampshire!
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