The Atlantic: The Pandemic Is Turning the Natural World Upside Down

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are being felt across the land, air, and sea as lower volumes of noise and air pollution change the city and ocean soundscapes. Alongside, the significant decrease in the concentration of a common air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, which enters the atmosphere through emissions from cars, trucks, buses, and power plants. With so many people staying home—and public-transit agencies cutting service as a result—there’s significantly less noise from cars, buses, trains, and other transportation.  According to Erica Walker, a public-health researcher at Boston University, before the coronavirus pandemic, the acoustic environment in Kenmore Square, a busy intersection near campus, is usually about 90 decibels during rush hour, yet recent data show reductions close to 30 decibels.  This significant decrease in noise pollution is evidently going to affect the oceans as well. Michelle Fournet, a marine ecologist at Cornell who studies acoustic environments, is hoping to position underwater microphones off the coast of Alaska and Florida, where she has studied humpback whales and other marine life, to investigate how the waters have changed in the absence of noise from cruise ships as the industry suspends organizations worldwide. Read the full article here.