The space for which I travel…

Geraint Rhys Whittaker

I’m a vibration 
My path is not linear
Hear me just the same

Further than the light 
I travel where it can not
Propagating ties

For kilometres
I linger through liquid life
Without me they’re blind

A necessity
Vital communication
Vocalization

I am distorted
When anthropogenic noise
Fractures my meaning

Bombs boom beyond bounds
A borderless seascape screams
Scarred, they sing no more 

I’m a vibration 
My path is no longer clear
Hear me just the same?

The Science

Waves are not only fluid disturbances on the ocean surface but are also the way that sound travels through the ocean, underneath the waterline. At sea, sound propagates much further than light and so is used by marine life as a critical tool for communication, breeding, navigation and protection from prey. Yet, due to increasing human activity, the oceans are becoming louder.

Shipping noise and seismic surveys are two particular sources of acoustic disturbance in the ocean, which many scientists suggest not only physically harm ocean life, but also impact behaviours as well as distort vocalizations. Over the past few years I have been working closely with acoustic scientists, in particular Dr Ilse van Opzeeland of the Ocean Acoustic Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research to produce art-science projects which explore many of these themes and this poem is inspired by the fascinating conversations I have had with Ilse and her colleagues about their work.

The Poet

Geraint Rhys Whittaker is an artist-researcher interested in exploring how art-science collaborations can be used to investigate, challenge and change public perceptions on some of the most pressing threats facing our oceans. He is particularly interested in exploring how acoustic data collected for the purpose of scientific research can be combined with artistic methods to investigate the impacts anthropogenic changes are having on our seas.

Next poem: The work of others by Colm Scully