In less than 100 seconds, Philippe Blondel explains that activities within the world’s oceans create a cacophony of sound that can reveal vast amounts of information about the environment in which the noises are generated. Waves, wind and rain at the surface, earthquakes beneath the seafloor, shipping, the movements and communication sounds of marine animals – the sources of noise go on and on.

Blondel is a physicist at the University of Bath in the UK with a focus on the physical understanding of acoustic remote sensing and its uses in underwater environments. In this 100 Second Science video, he explains how tracking the sounds of the sea can be used to study environmental change, such as the sound created by melting ice in the polar regions. Among other uses, this information can provide an early warning of the mini tsunamis caused by sudden ice collapse.