From Cold War Ears to Whale Chatter: SOSUS Finds a New Life Across Oceans
A declassified Cold War hydrophone network built to detect Soviet submarines (SOSUS) is now repurposed by scientists to listen for whale calls across ocean basins. The fixed array lets researchers track individual whales without ships, revealing cross-ocean connections—such as a blue whale tracked 2,200 miles over 43 days and fin whales heard on opposite sides of the Atlantic within about an hour—demonstrating how a military listening system can illuminate marine biology.
