Page 14 - Salinity News Today

The salinity and the surface temperature. you might get a difference in temperature between a lower layer and an upper layer and a difference in salinity, in density. and this would affect the path of sound waves. and so the two ping signals could very well be coming from a signal source. and with all the errors adding up, they seem to be very far apart. but if youre going to look some place, this is sure a very good start. >> yeah. jeff, we are learning tonight that the pings detected by the "o...

Would you recommend that as well? >> well, if we have the resources. but as an engineer, i would say, if you have this datum from a couple of years ago where the air france pinger changed frequencies at great depth, its likely this one did too. and with all the errors, its very reasonable the pinger would change frequency like this. but with that said, if were right at the limit of the batteries, 32 days, and youve heard nothing, maybe that last little bit you heard was the last little bit that ...

Layers in the ocean that form with different temperatures and salinity. and this is all -- were all speculating. but it is possible that its -- that thats the last youre going to hear from it. >> michael kay, remember last night, we were talking to, you know, one of the guys out on on the "uss blue ridge," and you were talking about triangulating. how do you figure out the location? what do you do? do you drop markers or what have you? so if the batteries are gone, it does give them, you know, a...

What adds to the mystery is the terrain. >> you have valleys. you have gullies. you have mountain ranges. its very much an area as it will miami mic what we have top side. >> reporter: theyre trying to find acoustic pings, the black box. in air sound travels in a straight line, but its not like that in the sea. it can angle and bend up to 90 degrees. that means you cant be exactly sure where the sound is coming from. >> acoustic energy sound through the water is greatly affected by temperature, ...

From. >> acoustic energy, sound through the water, is greatly affected by time, pressure, and salinity. >> reporter: if "ocean shield" hear hears another ping and is able to fix the position, it will put blue fin 21 into the water and attempt to find wreckage on the sea floor. if wreckage is located, one aspect may work in investigators favor. very low temperatures. >> cold temperatures does preserve things better than a shallower, warm temperatures. >> reporter: the search continues. >> and wha...

Salinity and has the effect of attenuating, bending, sometimes 90 degrees of sound waves. its quite possible for sound to travel great distances, but be very difficult to hear near the surface of the ocean, for instance. so it is a markedly different environment to what you see with sound traveling through air and its a very specialized skillset that is being employed at the moment. in terms of the towed pinger locator, were expecting around a 2,000 yard detection range, so you can picture now m...

Or is it within 100 miles? >> what i might do is ask one of the subject matter expert, commodore levy to address your question. and you might just add a little bit on some of the challenges associated with the work that is being done underwater. >> i might just open with some of the challenges we face. as youve heard, most of the -- all of the detect as the are happening at the most are acoustic. you can think of it essentially as deployed microphones listening for sound. and on the towed pinger...

Layers and salinity layers. all that has to do with the propagation of sound in it. it may get caught in the layer and duct. these are present the atmosphere, as well. in the water, people who deal with sound propagation and water are acutely aware of salinity and temperature levels. >> even if this is a ping, or a click if you listen to it, finding the plane and wreckage could be a completely different challenge depending upon depths, right? >> and how did this thing hit the water? did it hit t...

All that work. thousands of homes are flooded. 3 million acres of farm land are under water in the south. thats the damage we can see in shots like that. >> thats right. because in louisiana beneath the surface of the swollen mississippi sensitive oyster beds are being threatened by the on rush of water. >> they have to keep a certain salinity, a certain type of silt in there. and it is very difficult when you talk about this type of flooding. one oysterman says it is like mother nature is wat...

good morning. welcome. its thursday morning, may 19th. we have a lot of news this morning including some breaking news. lets begin with that breaking news. the resignation of dominique strauss-kahn as head of the international monetary fund. this move comes just before a bail hearing today in new york. were seeing this mug shot for first time. the former imf chief is facing sexual assault charges for allegedly attacking a maid in his manhattan hotel room. he says he is not guilty. re...