THE US NAVY IS WITHHOLDING THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY WHALES MASS STRAND!

By Capt. David Williams

In December 2008, in a deceptive effort to defend its sonar, the U.S. Navy released their Final Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training  Environmental Impact Statement.  Navy Documents    Click on:  Appendix E, Cetacean Stranding Report

In this 57 page report, the US Navy lists every possible cause of whale strandings imaginable.  Everything from starvation, sharks, killer whales, macroparasitic worms, microparasites, morbillivirus, bacteria, fungal infections, osteomyelitis, spondylosis deformans, ankylosing spondylitis, brevetoxins, saxitoxins, ciguatoxins, severe storms, hurricanes, typhoons, geomagnetic navigation failure, echolocation failure in shallow water, social cohesion, trapped in fishing nets, vessel strikes, oil spills, PCBs, DDT, DDE, dieldrin, heavy metals, immune failure, ingestion of plastic bags, movement of ice sheets, movement of nutrient-rich waters closer to shore, gunshots, oil drilling, explosives, and sonar were included with the exception of barotraumatic injury caused by earthquakes at sea and naval sonar. 

Barotrauma in diving whales is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between an air space (sinus cavities) inside the body and the surrounding water.  Barotrauma in whales typically occurs to air spaces within the whale's head when the surrounding water pressure suddenly changes due either to man-made sources, such as explosions and sonar, or due to natural sources such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 

Trauma occurs in the tissues around the air spaces in the head of the whales because gases are compressible and the surrounding tissues are not.  During sudden increases in ambient pressure, the volume of air inside the internal air space is reduced instantly providing the surrounding tissues with little support to resist the higher external pressure.  Just the opposite is true during sudden decreases in ambient pressure.  The higher pressure of the trapped gas inside the air spaces expands instantly and causes damage to the surrounding tissues.

But US Navy scientists ignore barotrauma completely and concluded their report by saying that sonar was not a major threat since it was not a significant contributor to the overall ocean noise budget.   What the heck has noise got to do with extreme pressure changes during sonar exposure?  The potential for injury is in the sinuses, not in the ears.  In fact, 40 years of research has taught the Deafwhale Society that "noise" (decibels) has little to do with killing whales or causing their strandings.  Whales may be disturbed by loud noise but rarely killed by such disturbances. 

The US Navy's  implication here is that noise might deafen the whales but this is just a smokescreen to turn the attention away from barotrauma.  Whales run from load noises just as man does.  They are not dumb enough to swim into a load noise and be deafened by getting too close.   

Of course, the Deafwhale Society will admit, the U.S. Navy is the world's expert on OCEAN NOISE BUDGET.  Listening to NOISE underwater has been their priority for the last 100 years. Funny thing is that 90% of low frequency ocean noise budget consists of the roar of underwater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and the boom boom boom boom boom boom of oil industry airgun arrays. The Navy even has computer programs designed to filter out seismic noise and airgun booms  so they can hear enemy submarines.

Seaquakes, volcanic eruptions, airguns and US Navy LF sonar all produce similar rapidly changing waves of pressures so who is the US Navy trying fool?  Why does this group purposefully omit the three most dangerous sources of sudden pressure changes (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and airguns) in its official report purporting to list all the possible causes of whale strandings?

As unbelievable as it may sound, many seaquakes emit pressure waves into the water more intense than several thousand tons of TNT-equivalent---as strong if not stronger than a medium-size nuclear explosion (Sound Images of the Ocean - Google Book Search); yet, the US Navy purposefully omits even a mention of potent pressure changes induced into the water by earthquakes (seaquakes) as a possible cause of strandings. Obviously, by not discussing seaquakes, they are trying to fool the public.  The question is why?  

It's common knowledge that the Navy generates more secrets than any group in history. On top of this, the God-awesome pressure changes generated by certain undersea earthquakes is already in the public domain so why have they not publicly addressed seaquake pressure waves as a source of possible injury in a pod of diving whales? It does not make sense. What have they got to lose by admitting the seaquakes "might" cause whales to strand?  What are they covering up?

Is it possible that the Navy is playing down potent seaquake shock waves  to prevent any public protest over their new weapon system? 

BAE Systems in the UK is now building a proto-type boat that will emit seaquake-like shock waves. 

This warship will be equipped with arrays of 360 transducers each 1 meter square.

There will be 180 big flat-panel loudspeakers running along either side of the hull below the waterline.  Supposedly, when the ship's sonar detects an incoming torpedo, the transducers simultaneously fire an acoustic shock wave of such intensity that the torpedo either detonates early or is disabled by the pulse's crushing force.  At least, this is the message put out by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is funding the building of the proto-type.

These are not ordinary loudspeakers: instead of having a membranous diaphragm that can vibrate in response to a range of audio frequencies, each of the devices has a ram-like cylindrical metal armature at its centre. This is projected outwards by electromagnets at very high speed, producing a shock wave. The array can be fired as many times as needed.

When the six rows of 60 transducers on each side of the ship fire at once, the cumulative action should generate a destructive pressure pulse not only capable of disabling an enemy's torpedo but also able to destroy and small vessel in the area. (Somali pirates better look out for this baby.  So had the poor whales and dolphins)

Exactly how the system works is shrouded in military secrecy.  But by making a speaker several times larger than the wavelength of the sound wave required, a tightly focused beam can be produced in front of the speaker. This is because beam width is partly determined by the aperture of the source - a bigger loudspeaker focuses sound in a smaller area. (New Scientist, 9 September 2000, p 38). And the combined size of the array makes for a very large speaker indeed. This focusing would allow the array to precisely target incoming torpedoes, or enemy ships or anything else in the water. In addition, the beam can be steered in different directions - probably by slightly altering the phase of the applied signals - a technique that is widely used to steer radio waves using side-by-side antennas. So anything in the water near the ship from all directions can be targeted (see Diagram).

So far, the system's developers, Anteon Technologies of Fairfax, Virginia, and BAE Systems of Farnborough, UK, have only built one transducer. But encouraged by software simulations that show the array should work, they plan to press ahead with a one-quarter-scale test rig.

If it reaches the stage of testing in the open ocean, however, the developers are likely to come into conflict with marine biologists. They have evidence that whales blasted by frequent acoustic signals from submarine or ship sonar appear to develop symptoms of decompression sickness, and die. (New Scientist, 11 October 2003, p 10).

But neither DARPA, Anteon, nor BAE Systems was willing to respond to questions about the array's proposed energy levels and any threat to marine mammals they might pose. 

It stands to reason that the US Navy does not want marine mammal experts investigating shock waves from seaquakes since the energy in the water is identical to the new Torpedo Zapper Warship.

Then again, maybe the Navy lost a nuclear submarine due to a seaquake and is afraid to talk about it (we won't talk about this right now). 

Maybe they are trying to generate artificial seaquakes as weapons?  It's no secret that the Navy worked on generating tsunami waves to destroy coastal cites for decades. 

Who knows for sure why they continue to lie to the public about seaquakes and stranded whales.  The problem for the US Navy is that the lies are getting much easier to sort out.  The paper trail is enormous.  The truth will eventually come out one day in not to distance future.   The public is already distrustful of the Navy version on anything.  

But lets look closer at a few facts to see if we can uncover a better explanation for the Navy's cover up.  

First Set of Undisputed Facts:  The US Navy knows that underwater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are the most potent source of sudden pressure changes in the sea.  They are fully aware that these events occur spontaneously, as either single events or as cluster events lasting for several hours to days.  In fact, 90% of all earthquakes on the planet occur underwater in the Navy's backyard.  The US Navy has spent hundreds of millions of dollars researching pressure waves from undersea earthquakes going as far back as 1929 when they dispatched the US Submarine  S-21 to record these events (Popular Science, March 1929).  Seafloor eruptions of this nature below a pod of diving whales would radiate enormous amounts of subsonic energy into the water that would then travel vertically as a series of potent changes in ambient water pressure.  Earthquake-induced pressure changes travel ocean wide and have been recorded in the sea for the last 60 years by thousands of US Navy hydrophones positioned all around the world!  In addition, this energy often slams into the drop-off edge of islands and continental margins where it is registered on land-based seismographs and called T-Phase Waves by seismologists. (U.S. Navy's Integrated Undersea Surveillance Systems)  (T-phase waves detected by US Navy hydrophones)

Second Set of Undisputed Facts:  Pelagic toothed whales and dolphins, the greatest air-breathing divers the planet has ever known, depend on their natural ability to regulate the volume of air in the enclosed air spaces of their heads and middle ear cavities with the changes in ambient pressure at different depths during a feeding dive.  The US Navy has spent millions of dollars researching the fantastic diving abilities of whales and dolphins.  They have even trained these animals to carry explosive and sink enemy ships.  They know more about barotraumatic injury in air-breathing mammals than any organization in the world!   They are the world's diving experts and whales and dolphins are the world's greatest divers.  How can they pretend to be so stupid to a diving-related injury (barotrauma) in whales?

Third Set of Undisputed Facts:  Rapid and excessive alterations in hydrostatic pressures would cause the volume of air contained inside the head sinuses and middle ear cavities of diving whales (and Navy divers) to flux back and forth between a squeezed condition to one of over-expansion, damaging the thin membranes of these air-filled cavities in a similar fashion to how the sinuses, eardrums, and lung tissue of Navy divers is torn during rapid and excessive changes in surrounding water pressure.  And, the U.S. Navy is the world's leading expert in this area as well.

Fourth Set of Undisputed Facts:   Deep diving toothed whales depend on their air-filled pterygoid sinuses to help isolate and protect their delicate cochlea from their own loud navigational signals. The pterygoid sinuses are small air-sacs that surround each cochlea and provide the isolation necessary for the function of biosonar.  Barotraumatic injury in these air sacs would lead to echonavigation failure and the lose of the ability to dive and feed due to severe pain.  The US Navy has spent millions of dollars researching how whales determine sound direction.  They know that barotraumatic injury caused by earthquake pressure waves (seaquakes) would result in an instant lose of echonavigation ability.  Why do they pretend to be so stupid?

Fifth Set of Undisputed Facts:  Deep diving toothed whales and dolphins, known to mass strand on beaches around the world, feed almost exclusively on squid above and around undersea volcanic mountains (seamounts) and mid ocean ridges, the most earthquake-prone areas on Earth.  The US Navy has spent millions of dollars researching the location of the feeding grounds of whales and dolphins.

The US Navy wants the public to believe that the Deafwhale Society is nuts and whales never suffer a diving-related injury, but this is like believing that man never stumps his toe. Whales injured barotraumatically would be in great pain when they tried to dive and feed. They would lose the ability to generate navigation signals or to determine the direction of any returning echoes.  Such injuries would leave them looking healthy on the outside while slowly dying on the inside. If oceanic currents didn't carry them to a beach, the unfortunate wandering whales might swim the wrong way up a river, be struck by a ship, or die in the jaws of fierce predators.

To think that the US Navy is not fully aware of the earthquake hazard to whales is totally absurd. Yet, they remain eerily silent, neither denying nor admitting the existence of such a seismic phenomenon in relation to stranded marine mammals. Why all the secrecy?  What are they trying to hide?

Here's a good example:

On 15-16 January 2005, thirty-three pilot whales, two dwarf sperm whales, and a young minke whale stranded on the sandy beach of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  NOAA Fisheries Service scientists spent a few million dollars and concluded a year-long investigations (link) by saying the cause is unknown and will likely never be known.  NOAA and the US Navy would like the whale stranding mystery to go unsolved forever.  They both know that rapid changes in water pressure generated by sonar was not responsible and the Deafwhale Society agrees with them.  However, rapid changes in pressure waves, similar to those produced by sonar but due to violent disturbance in the seafloor, did indeed cause barotraumatic injury in these whales and explains why they beached.  The excessive changes in ambient pressure (seaquakes) was generated by swarm of underwater volcanic-tectonic earthquakes in the Caribbean sea ~2,300 miles from the stranding site. 

The swarm of explosive volcanic earthquakes started with a magnitude 6.3 event on 21 November 2004 and lasted for 9 days.  The epicenter was located in the Dominica Passage between the French West Indies and the Island of Dominica.

To verify the seismic data go to http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/epic/epic.html and select "circular search."  Enter 15 for latitude, -61.7 for longitude, and 100 km for radius.  Select the date range listed below.

FILE CREATED:  Sat Dec 27 07:15:19 2008
 Circle Search   Earthquakes=        51
 Circle Center Point Latitude:   15.000N  Longitude:    61.700W
 Radius:     100.000 km
 Catalog Used: PDE
 Date Range:   2004/11/15   to    2004/11/30
 Data Selection: Historical & Preliminary Data

 CAT    YEAR  MO DA  ORIG TIME   LAT    LONG  DEP  MAGNITUDE  IEM DTSVNWG DIST
                                                              NFO          km                                                             TF 

 PDE    2004  11 21 114107.76  15.68  -61.71  14  6.3 MwGS    .CM .......    75
 PDE    2004  11 21 114742.18  15.76  -61.60  10  5.1 mbGS    ... .......    84
 PDE    2004  11 21 115048.17  15.61  -61.62  10  4.3 mbGS    ... .......    68
 PDE    2004  11 21 115147.76  15.75  -61.62  10  4.8 mbGS    ... .......    83
 PDE    2004  11 21 115419.72  15.60  -61.56  10  4.1 mbGS    ... .......    67
 PDE    2004  11 21 115628.64  15.66  -61.61  10  5.0 mbGS    ... .......    73
 PDE    2004  11 21 115848.08  15.82  -61.70  10  4.7 mbGS    ... .......    90
 PDE    2004  11 21 120212.48  15.72  -61.62  10  4.8 mbGS    ... .......    80
 PDE    2004  11 21 120832.28  15.74  -61.66   6  4.4 mbGS    ... .......    82
 PDE    2004  11 21 122206.53  15.72  -61.73  10  4.5 mbGS    ... .......    80
 PDE    2004  11 21 122539.78  15.79  -61.53  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    89
 PDE    2004  11 21 123540.24  15.72  -61.72  10              ... .......    79
 PDE    2004  11 21 124526.93  15.75  -61.75  10  4.7 mbGS    ... .......    82
 PDE    2004  11 21 125845.75  15.74  -61.73  10  4.4 mbGS    ... .......    81
 PDE    2004  11 21 133658.95  15.74  -61.63  10  5.4 MwHRV   ..M .......    82
 PDE    2004  11 21 134958.76  15.76  -61.61  10  4.6 mbGS    ... .......    84
 PDE    2004  11 21 144712.43  15.72  -61.66  10  4.4 mbGS    ... .......    79
 PDE    2004  11 21 153553.01  15.64  -61.63  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    71
 PDE    2004  11 21 165717.04  15.68  -61.70  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    74
 PDE    2004  11 21 182627.75  15.73  -61.65  10  3.7 mbGS    ... .......    80
 PDE    2004  11 21 185302.66  15.72  -61.76  10  5.4 MwHRV   ..M .......    79
 PDE    2004  11 21 201942.99  15.76  -61.70  10  4.2 mbGS    ... .......    83
 PDE    2004  11 21 201957.54  15.59  -61.67  10  4.4 mbGS    ... .......    65
 PDE    2004  11 21 223206.75  15.78  -61.65  10  4.2 mbGS    ... .......    86
 PDE    2004  11 21 225632.50  15.68  -61.62  11  4.8 mbGS    ... .......    75
 PDE    2004  11 22 020119.35  15.72  -61.77  10  4.7 mbGS    ... .......    79
 PDE    2004  11 22 050113.65  15.71  -61.61  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    78
 PDE    2004  11 22 052803.95  15.69  -61.67  10  3.9 mbGS    ... .......    75
 PDE    2004  11 22 054208.23  15.73  -61.73  10  3.9 mbGS    ... .......    80
 PDE    2004  11 22 103608.43  15.77  -61.84  10  4.2 mbGS    ... .......    86
 PDE    2004  11 22 181353.79  15.75  -61.60  10  4.3 mbGS    ... .......    83
 PDE    2004  11 22 212353.71  15.79  -61.74  10  5.0 mbGS    .F. .......    87
 PDE    2004  11 22 215332.49  15.85  -61.65  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    94
 PDE    2004  11 22 215338.59  15.74  -61.69  10  4.1 mbGS    ... .......    81
 PDE    2004  11 22 224010.90  15.81  -61.67  10  4.1 mbGS    ... .......    89
 PDE    2004  11 22 225604.87  15.73  -61.73  10  4.5 mbGS    ... .......    81
 PDE    2004  11 22 225950.05  15.74  -61.72  10  4.4 mbGS    ... .......    81
 PDE    2004  11 23 005132.58  15.77  -61.70  10  3.9 mbGS    ... .......    84
 PDE    2004  11 23 030757.29  15.81  -61.52  10  3.5 mbGS    ... .......    91
 PDE    2004  11 23 080444.77  15.75  -61.67  10  3.8 mbGS    ... .......    83
 PDE    2004  11 23 171007.62  15.78  -61.71  10  3.9 mbGS    ... .......    86
 PDE    2004  11 25 055632.14  15.71  -61.78  26  4.2 mbGS    ... .......    78
 PDE    2004  11 25 205154.99  15.80  -61.66  16  4.3 mbGS    ... .......    88
 PDE    2004  11 26 050517.91  15.60  -61.57  10  5.2 mbGS    .F. .......    67
 PDE    2004  11 26 224935.37  15.72  -61.73  10  4.9 mbGS    .F. .......    79
 PDE    2004  11 27 154532.85  15.74  -61.49  10  4.0 mbGS    ... .......    84
 PDE    2004  11 27 160201.80  15.67  -61.51  10  4.3 mbGS    ... .......    76
 PDE    2004  11 27 234423.98  15.62  -61.63  10  4.9 MwHRV   .FM .......    69
 PDE    2004  11 28 210026.44  15.63  -61.57  10  3.9 mbGS    ... .......    70
 PDE    2004  11 29 163635.96  15.55  -61.67  18  4.5 mbGS    ... .......    61
 PDE    2004  11 29 205350.28  15.66  -61.57  10  4.6 mbGS    ... .......    74

The series of pressure changes generated above these 51 earthquakes would traumatize the pterygoid sinuses in the whales and cause them to fill with blood, pus, and fluids and become reddened and infected.  The NOAA Marine Fisheries report (link) said that verminous pterygoid sinusitis (meaning the pterygoid sinuses were infected with parasitic worms)  were observed in pilot whales but was not the cause of debilitation or death.  This statement is misleading and deceptive.  The pterygoid sinuses are small air sacs that surround each cochlea.  Filled with air, these air sacs serve to deflect sound away for the cochlea and isolate the hearing apparatus.  This protects the inner ear from the whale's own load phonation and allows for sound to be funneled via special jaw bone fat to the inner ear through a small opening in the sinuses.  In this fashion, the whale can determine the direction of sound by simply scanning his head from side to side slightly.  The set up allows biosonar to function.  If the sinuses are reddened and infected with parasitic worms, the worms replace the normal volume or air and biosonar stops working.  Healthy, clean, and functional pterygoid sinuses are a absolute must for the survival of odontocete. 

Any scientists that say otherwise should by charged with perjury and publicly disgraced.

But those sucking up to the US Navy and the oil industry to get grant money don't have to worry because if they are disgraced, they can go to work for Exxon Mobil tomorrow, or maybe slide in on some payroll sponsored by US Navy money.  In other words, the Navy makes sure that the crooked scientists know that will be protected as long as they keep lying for the Navy and the oil industry. How sad for the poor whales.

The pterygoid sinuses in a healthy animal usually contain one or two parasitic worms per cavity whose function it is to keep the sinus clean and ready to dive in exchange for a place to live.  The worms feed on loose blood, torn tissue, and body fluids and are always cleaning and preparing to dive. The whale's immune system keeps the population of these worms in check.  A few (2 or 3) do not trigger an immune reaction; but more than 3 and the whale's immunity kicks in and kills off the excess.  The worms lay their eggs in the sinus cavity walls.  The eggs remain is a state of quiescence until the whale's immune system allows them to hatch.  Dehydration is thought to be a chemical signal for the eggs to hatch; an immune system weakened by dehydration, vitamin depletion, and  extreme stress allows a build up of excessive worms.  Thus, verminous pterygoid sinuses are indeed the round-about-cause of the strandings and death.

In three pilot whales and one dwarf sperm there was evidence of clinically significant disease in post-cranial tissues which led to chronic debilitation. Rapid changes in pressure would expand and collapse the lung cavity which would put great hydrostatic pressure on the blood vessels and could cause a stroke. Cardiovascular disease was present in one pilot whale and one dwarf sperm whale.  Weakened heart muscles are the result of barotraumatic injury in the chest cavity causing extreme and rapid increases in blood pressure resulting in trauma to the heart muscle. 

Parasites (nematodes, cestodes, and trematodes) were collected from 26 pilot whales and two dwarf sperm whales. Sites of collection included stomach, nasal/pterygoid, peribullar sinuses, blubber, and abdominal cavity. The report stated that parasite species, locations and loads were within "normal limits" for free-ranging cetaceans and were not considered causative for the stranding event.  The problem here is in determining what is a "normal load of parasitic worms for a free-ranging cetacean."  Many whales and dolphins are injured by seaquake pressure waves; some recover whiles others do not.  Seaquake-injured specimens would be easy to capture.  Those researchers who determined early on the normal load for free-ranging animals were likely catching seaquake-injured whales.  So now we are faced with the fact that we do not know what is a "normal load of parasites from free-ranging whales" because the data was recovered under questionable circumstance.

The reports states that twenty-five heads were examined with nine specific anatomic locations of interest: extramandibular fat, intramandibular fat, auditory meatus, peribullar acoustic fat, peribullar soft tissue, peribullar sinus, pterygoid sinus, melon, and brain. The common finding in all examined heads was verminous pterygoid sinusitis. Intramandibular adipose tissue reddening, typically adjacent to the vascular plexus, was observed in some individuals.  It was stated that this tissue damage could represent localized hemorrhage resulting from vascular rete rupture, hypostatic congestion, or erythrocyte rupture during the freeze/thaw cycle.

To say that the evidence for barotrauma in the heads of the stranded animals might have been due to red cell rupture during the freeze/thaw cycle is purely a diversion and another effort to mislead the public.  The examiners are looking at the evidence of barotrauma and trying as best they can to side tract the truth.

The point here is that the medical evidence supports the likelihood that these whales were injured during the 51 earthquakes listed above.  The whales would have returned to the surface after the injury but would not be able to dive and feed themselves.  Nor would they be able use their biosonar. Whales swimming along without a sense of direction will be pointed downstream by the surface currents.  This is a big failure of most whale scientists.  They would rather imagine that a complicated geomagnetic compass misfires and leads healthy whales to the beach or that the pod is following some ancient migratory path or that a sick leader calls the entire pod to the beach to die.  Phooey!  Whales are just not that stupid. 

The whales that stranded on Cape Hatteras were injured seven weeks before the stranding.  The injury knocked out their biosonar and they have been traveling downstream since in the path of least resistance since the injury occurred.  Any creature, whether it be giant blue whale or tiny minnow,  swimming without knowing where it is going, will be guided away from a path of higher resistances to a path where the resistance is the least.  This means that non-navigating whales will eventually be swimming in the channel where the water flows the fastest.  I repeat so you don't miss the point:  Whales swimming along in an open sea without a sense of direction will tend to be directed into the path where the water flows the fastest.

One other point:  Seaquake-injured whales will not swim with the flow when they are frightened by ships and/or sharks, or if they are directed head first into short choppy waves.  The wind has a strong influence over surface flow in complex ways.  When a strong breeze opposes the flow of the current, it generates short choppy seas with breaking white caps.  The current is flowing into the wind but the chop and the white caps make it difficult for the whales to swim with the flow so they consciously alter their travel path to a more comfortable angle.  Storms at sea can also break up a large pod into several different pods that may or may not get back together after the storm.

Talk about storms . . .  The National Weather Service reported that a severe weather event moved from the northeast through North Carolina on January 13 and 14 (see below). This event set the surface currents shoreward and literally blew the whales into the sand. The event was caused by an intense cold front that moved into an unusually warm and moist air mass that had been persisting across the eastern United States for about a week. The weather caused flooding in the western part of the state, considerable wind damage in central regions of the state, and at least three tornadoes that were reported in the north central part of the state.

And, don't disregard near shore currents and tidal inflow.  Strandings usually do not occur during heavy seas because the flow of the returning water produces currents running along the shore line that would carry wounded whales parallel to the beach and tend to prevent strandings.

Now that you understand how surface currents direct the travel path of inured whales, use your imagination a little more and you will realize that a beach with repeated strandings will be one that is hook-shaped opposing the surface currents similar to Cape Cod, the leading whale stranding site in America, and also similar to Golden Bay, the leading stranding site in New Zealand.

See how easy it is to solve the centuries-old mystery of why whales mass strand.  Seaquakes injure whales, but they do not strand at the closes beach to the epicenter because surface currents direct them to swim for hundreds of miles downstream.

As a study assignment for grade school students, I would like to suggest that the students  imagine they are an independent whale scientist investigating the mysterious North Carolina beachings that NOAA Fisheries Service said could never be solved.

As a whale scientist, the student will know that nine out of every ten earthquakes on the planet occurs along undersea volcanic mountain ranges where the whales feed. 

To determine if an earthquake was responsible, you should trace back upstream to the nearest known seismically active waters where you might find pilot, dwarf sperm, and minke whales feeding in the same area.  As a whale scientist, they know the closest earthquake-prone area upstream from North Carolina where all three species  might be found is in the northeast section of the Caribbean Sea near the French West Indies. Minke whales were actively hunted not long ago in Antigua and Barbados and St Kitts and St. Nevis so the channel between these islands would be the best place to start looking for undersea earthquakes.

The next questions is when did the earthquake occur?  Figure the current from the area flows at about 2 knots toward North Carolina and the whales would like swim along at 4 knots.   They might stuck somewhere in a cove or they might be chased into calm waters by sharks and killer whales.  Thus, if indeed they were injured by an earthquake in this part of the Caribbean (about 2,300 miles from the standing beach) then they might have wandered about for 4,000 miles. The accident would have likely occurred sometime around the 1st of December 2004.

You also know that the dancing up and down of the seafloor during such underwater earthquakes often acts just like the faceplate of a gigantic sonar transducer.  In other words, the students will know that pressure changes generated by both sonar and undersea earthquakes produce a similar barotraumatic injury in the head and middle ear sinuses of diving whales and dolphins.  They will also know that a busted sinus cavity will likely destroy the whales' biosonar and prevent them from diving.

Even a few centimeters of up and down displacement of the seafloor during a submarine earthquake displaces the water.   Tsunami waves are generated when the seafloor dances up and down for four to five meters.  Whereas, when the rocky bottom dances quickly up and down a meter or so, the seafloor generates waves of rapidly changing pressures the intensity of which depend on the speed of the up and down movement.  The faster the seafloor dances the greater are the pressure change.

Excessive changes in pressure result in barotraumatic injury in diving mammals. Simply said, seaquakes can be as dangerous to mammals that live in the sea as earthquakes on land are dangerous to man.

The evidence that seaquakes are a hazard to sea mammals has been landing on our beaches every since the beginning of recorded time but man has failed to see the obvious.

The Deafwhale Society can not take credit for discovering the existence of potent pressure waves above submarine earthquakes. The idea that seabed disturbances generated dangerous waves of changing pressure was first advanced over 125 years ago by Eberhart Rudolph, Professor of Geophysics at the University of Strasburg, Germany. 

Professor Rudolph coined the word "seaquake" and applied it to an earthquake felt onboard a ship at sea.  He recorded over 600 seaquake/vessel encounters between 1775 and 1878. (read more about seaquakes)

The Deafwhale Society, formerly the Moby Dick Society, held the idea in the early 1970's that undersea volcanic eruptions were causing whales to strand. But after reading Professor's Rudolph's seaquake concept in 1985 we started thinking that rapid and excessive changes in water pressure above the epicenter of an undersea earthquake was the real cause of the pod injury.  

We were encouraged during the early years when a few top scientists embrace the concept.  Professor Kenneth Norris, a leading Cetologists with the University of California, and Richard Skop, Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, were Deafwhale's closest advisor.  We also had the support of Professor Jozef J. Zwislocki, distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at the Institute for Sensory Research at Syracuse University in New York.

We had even worked out a plan with Professor Zwislocki to examine the earbones and sinuses of the next pod of whales to strand in Florida for evidence of auditory trauma.  Budweiser and Alcan Aluminum agreed to cover the cost of the project.  We also had agreement with National Geographic TV to film a one hour special.   But the project was canceled at the last minute for unknown reasons.

Then, when Scripps Institute and the US Navy (financed by the Department of Defense)  sent out a call in 1992 for proposals on how to best determine the potential for injury in marine mammals exposed to the low-frequency pressure waves, we sent in the idea that Scripps or the Navy should examine pods of stranded whales injured by low-frequency pressure waves generated during violent seaquakes.  Our suggestion was to compare the intensity level of the signals from Mother Nature with those from ATOC  projectors.  In this fashion, no live animals needed to be sacrificed.  Professor Daniel Costa, the whale expert handling the program for Scripps and the Navy, rejected our idea also for unknown reasons.  We felt at the time that the US Navy already knew about the potent pressure changes generated in the water during seabed earthquakes.  How could they not know?

But there was no way we could prove earthquakes at sea generated potent pressure waves and caused whales to strand unless the Navy provided a little help so we continued to fine-tune our work and look for support.

We learned the hard way that if the US Navy does not want anyone to know the truth about why whales mass stranded, no marine mammal scientists was going to step up and support our work openly.  The Navy and the oil industry controlled all the money spent on whale research in one way or the other so if scientists expected to become famous from whale research they better stay away from things not supported by the Navy or the oil industry.

It looked like we were beat.  Then, a few years ago, up-to-the-minute earthquake data began available on the Internet.  That's when we realized that we could prove our theory by predicting whale strandings 2-3 weeks in advance based on the occurrence of certain earthquakes within a known whale habitat.

We discovered that on average the stranding beaches where situated about 2,500 miles downstream from a Mid Ocean Ridge, the most earthquake-violent areas on the planet.  Mid Ocean Ridges also are a prime feeding area for deep diving whales since this is where a lot of squid hang out. 

Since all the world's major stranding sites are located downstream from seismically-active feeding grounds, we can assume that the pod always swims downstream from the epicenter of the injurious earthquake.  Downstream is the path of least resistance and would be the direction a lost pod would travel.   This means that the injury has knocked out the pod's ability to echo-navigate.  Thus, the two things needed to predict a stranding along a given shoreline is (a) to closely monitoring the upstream feeding grounds for dangerous earthquake activity, and (b) keep tabs of the downstream surface currents.

UNDERSTANDING THE EARTHQUAKE

In brief, the species of whales and dolphins known to mass strand are the greatest divers the Earth has ever known.  They dive everyday to between 400 and 3,000 meters, feeding on squid along the top of the 40,000-mile-long undersea volcanic mountain range known as the Mid Ocean Ridge System.  This mountainous seam in the Earth's crust marks the edges of the planet's tectonic plates and is home to more earthquakes than any area on earth.  It is an area where volcanic magma pushes upward from the molten core of the earth to form new seafloor in a process known as seafloor spreading.

In our original version, we imagined volcanic eruptions as a cause of excessive pressure waves but switched in 1987 to earthquakes. Now that more and more research is available on the Internet, we now suspect that the culprit is an explosive combination referenced by scientists as a volcanic-tectonic earthquake.

Hot volcanic magma is lighter than solidified magma and will float toward the surface of the earth.  When a large glob of rising magma begins to put pressure on the thin crust along the mid ocean ridge, the area could become the new epicenter of an explosive volcanic-induced earthquake.  The hot magma tends to melt or punch a hole through the crust.  But before the hole appears, horizontally running stress cracks (stress faults) form in the solid basaltic seafloor above the magma chamber.  As the vertical pressure increases above the rising magma, a point is reached where the seafloor literally explodes upward with earthquake-like motion.  As the violent upheaval only a few kilometers deep in the seabed suddenly shifts the basaltic seafloor vertically, the rapid up and down movement in the water generates seismoacoustic waves that push and pull at the surrounding hydrospace causing sudden changes in local water pressure corresponding in frequency and intensity to the violence going on at the rock/water interface.  The resulting rapid hydroacoustic pressure changes will travel vertically in wave-like fashion toward the surface. 

Historic data shows that, on average, a thousand earthquakes greater than magnitude >5 erupt annually in the seafloor below where the whales feed on the squid.

The Deafwhale Society is just a few years in front of whale scientists on this issue. With so many yearly events, it is just a matter of time before they accept the idea that undersea earthquakes as a source of injury in whales.

UNDERSTANDING THE INJURY

We know that whales have evolved for ~40 million years in the most earthquake prone areas on the planet.  It seems reasonable to believe that whether or not they are injured by an earthquake would depend how well evolution equipped them to compensate and/or detect these events before they occur. 

Then again, maybe evolution hit a snag? 

Dealing with rapid changes in pressure while diving is not a straight forward process.  First, the closer the pod is to the surface when exposed to rapid changes, the greater the odds that they will be injured.  This is so because the percentage of change in the volume of air contained in their numerous enclosed air spaces is much greater near the surface where the ratio of surface pressure (~15 psia) to ambient pressures increases much faster than it does in deep water. 

The second danger zone is at the maximum depth for the species.  If a whale chases its prey beyond its maximum safe diving range and encounters rapid pressure changes from an undersea earthquake, the rarefaction (vacuum) side of the pressure wave might allow the compressed air in the head sinuses to expand too quickly and cause a rupture.

Fluctuations in pressure traveling through the organs that contain pockets of gas (sinuses and middle ear cavities) cause implosion of the air pockets followed by a rebound expansion after the wave has passed.  Because air is easily compressed by the passing wave and bodily tissues, blood, and bones are not, strong pressure differentials develop at such air-filled interfaces causing shear forces that tear and disrupt tissues and membranes.

The air sacs (pterygoid air sinuses) surrounding each cochlea are of particular concern.  These small bags of air isolate each earbone to improve binaural hearing; thus, barotrauma here will not only disable biosonar and echo-navigation but will also prevent the pod from diving and feeding.  The whales will still be able to hear and respond to sound but will not be able to determine direction or dive much deeper than 4-5 meters without severe pain. 

Another serious danger to diving whales would happen when the negative pressure (vacuum) phases of the seaquake waves exceed the tensile strength of water molecules resulting in cavitation and super-expansion of the air pockets to greater then surface volume.

Sonar and seaquake waves have both positive and negative phases of equal value.  If the intensity is strong enough, the negative (vacuum phase) of a seaquake/sonar wave will lower the surrounding water pressure to the point where boiling will occur.  As the water boils, air bubbles form. As the positive phase returns to the same area, the boiling stops and the bubbles collapse with violence.  This entire process of pressure drop, boiling, and bubble collapse is called "cavitation".

To understand cavitation, you must first understand the relationship between pressure and the boiling point of water. At sea level, water will boil at 212° F (100° C).  As pressure decreases, seawater will boil at lower temperatures. If the ambient water pressure drops below ~5 psi (gage pressure), seawater will start boiling at or near the body temperature of a diving whale.

The collapsing bubbles release enough energy to erode the surface of the propellers so you can imagine what happens to the whale's organs.  (acoustic injury in whales)

Evolution had no choice.  The better equipped the whale was to deal with the extreme pressures at depth, the more vulnerable it became to being caught shallow during a seaquake.  Accepting the danger in the shallow zone was the price evolution paid to get the whales down deeper.  For example, beaked whales are far better equipped to deal with rapid pressures changes at depth where they spend a lot of time but less able to deal with the same pressure changes at ~10 meters; thus, this particular species is predisposed to both seaquake and sonar injury.

INJURED PODS SWIM WITH THE SURFACE CURRENT

An earthquake-injured pod has no choice but to remain on the surface until the barotrauma heals, often taking up to two or three weeks. 

Where the non-navigating pod goes during the recovery period depends solely on the flow of oceanic surface currents (see more of how they travel downstream with the current).

Almost 40 years of research has convinced the Deafwhale Society that seismic injury might be shockingly common.  We estimate that pelagic pods that consistently feed along Mid Ocean Ridges might receive a slight injury every year and a serious one every five years.  If our guess is close to right, then the ratio of pod recoveries to those stranded might be as high as ten to one.  We also believe recovered pods often adapt to the general area where the recovery occurs.

Fishermen in small boats, using similar methods to those used by the drive-fisheries for small whales in the Faeroe Islands (link) (link) and in Japan (link) will find it easy to drive these non-navigating seaquake-injured pods to their slaughter.  Healthy pods would have no problem diving under the little boats and swimming away.  Severe barotrauma does not deafen the pods.  They can hear the banging noises made by the fisherman but have no idea which way to swim to safety so they plod along downstream in the path of least resistance.  The fishermen know the beaches where the surface currents favor a stranding.  Their job is to guide the pods as best they can to the most favorable site to take advantage of the local currents.

If the sharks or the fishermen don’t harvest the pods, they stand a good chance that local currents will carry them near a beach where they mass strand, usually at night due to failing night vision.   

Whales do not swim to the nearest beach to escape the water when injured.  They are carried to the beach by the current and accidentally get trapped by the sand.  Why the beach?  Because current, the same force that carried the sand to form the beach in the first place, is the same force directing the whales. 

The point here is that stranded whales might have been swimming along with the surface currents for weeks before they beach. 

They look healthy on the outside because their heavy coat of blubber is a wet suit, and cannot be digested in a crisis.  If a whale digested his wet suit, he would die quickly of hypothermia.  Earthquake-injured whales might survive for five or six weeks during which they could swim along at 5 knots inside a 2 knot current 24 hours per day.  This means that the epicenter of the earthquake might be 3,000 miles upstream.  In fact, if you trace from the stranding beach back upstream to the nearest seismically active habitat for the species that stranded, you will always find yourself over the top of a Mid-Ocean Ridge System, the most earthquake-prone areas in the world.  If you search the data for a recent earthquake, you'll usually find several suspicious events.

The wounded whales are under constant pressure from oceanic sharks and killer whales that trail them (like a pack of wolves trail caribou) picking off any stragglers that fall behind. 

Oceanic sharks grow big feeding on seaquake-injured whales, not shrimp.

If there is an unexplained increase in the number of beachings in a given area, the likely reason is not navy sonar but over fishing of the sharks. 

Compare the other theories and you can see that the Seaquake Hypothesis is the only one that fully explains all the consistent observations and known facts.