THE mystery of an “alien song” heard coming from the deepest point on Earth has finally been solved.
The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places on Earth, measuring over 36,000ft deep.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest known point on Earth’s surface[/caption]
The trench measures over 36,000ft deep[/caption]
The trench sits at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and is so hard to reach only a select few have ever been able to venture down there.
Bizarre noises emerging from the trench were first recorded a decade ago and fears of alien life sprung up as a response.
They lasted between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds and were dubbed “Biotwangs”.
They were deep moans at extremely low frequencies like 38 hertz and a had a sharp finish that pushed as high as a whopping 8,000 hertz – but their source remained unknown for years.
In 2016, experts believed it could be a mating call from a Baleen whale, but no one was ever certain due to the randomness of the noises.
Sharon Nieukirk, a marine bioacoustics expert at Oregon State said: “If it’s a mating call, why are we getting it year round? That’s a mystery.”
The sound is “very distinct, with all these crazy parts” she added.
Now, after reanalysing the sounds, experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) believe they finally have an answer.
Instead of the noise being produced by Baleen whales, a new study suggests that Bryde’s whales could be responsible.
These kind of creatures can be found around warm, temperate oceans worldwide like the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific.
The researchers saw 10 of the whales swimming in the area and consequently recorded nine making the distinctive noises.
But to prove the Bryde’s were the source of the alien-like clamour, experts used artificial intelligence.
In the study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the team said: “It was assumed to be produced by a baleen whale, but without visual verification it was impossible to assign a species.
“Using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data collected in the Mariana Archipelago, we determined that Biotwangs are produced by Bryde’s whales.
“We used a combination of manual and machine learning annotation methods to detect Biotwangs in our extensive historical passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected across the central and western North Pacific.
“We identified a consistent seasonal presence of Biotwangs in the Mariana Archipelago and to the east at Wake Island, with occasional occurrence as far away as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and near the equator (Howland Island).”
While it remains unconfirmed why the whales do this, expert Dr Allen told Popular Science that the creatures could be using the Biotwang as a contact call.
The expert called it “a sort of “Marco Polo” of the ocean” but said they’d “need more information” before confirming.
A new study suggests that Bryde’s whales are responsible for the noise[/caption]
The whales could be using the Biotwang as a contact call[/caption]
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