Wikipedia

52-hertz whale

The52-hertz whale,colloquially referred to as52 Blue,is an individualwhaleof unidentified species thatcallsat the unusual frequency of 52hertz.This pitch is at a higher frequency than that of the other whale species with migration patterns most closely resembling the 52-hertz whale's[1]– theblue whale(10 to 39 Hz)[2]and thefin whale(20 Hz).[1]Its call has been detected regularly in many locations since the late 1980s and appears to be the only individual emitting a whale call at this frequency. However, the whale itself has never been sighted; it has only been heard viahydrophones.It has been described as the "world's loneliest whale", though potential recordings of a second 52-hertz whale, heard elsewhere at the same time, have been sporadically found since 2010.[3][4]

A spectrogram of the 52-hertz signal

52 Hz is equivalent to the musical note G#1,which is the 12th lowest key on a conventional 88-keypianokeyboard; or, the 4th finger position on the lowest string (E1) of adouble bass.

Characteristics

edit
The 52-hertz whale
The signal was recorded in the northeast Pacific. It has been sped up ten times, raising the pitch to 520 Hz (C5).
Problems playing this file? Seemedia help.

The sonic signature is that of a whale, albeit at a unique frequency. The call patterns resemble neitherbluenorfin whales,being much higher in frequency, shorter, and more frequent.[5]Blue whales usually vocalize at 10–39 Hz,[2]fin whales at 20 Hz.[1]The calls of this whale are highly variable in their pattern of repetition, duration, and sequence, although they are easily identifiable due to their frequency and characteristic clustering.[6]The calls have deepened slightly to around 50 hertz since 1992, suggesting the whale has grown or matured.[4]

The migration track of the 52-hertz whale is unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species.[7]Its movements have been somewhat similar to that of blue whales, but its timing has been more like that of fin whales.[6]It is detected in thePacific Oceanevery year beginning in August–December, and moves out of range of the hydrophones in January–February. It travels as far north as theAleutianandKodiak Islands,and as far south as theCaliforniacoast, swimming between 30 and 70 km (20 and 40 mi) each day. Its recorded distance traveled per season has ranged from a low of 708 km (440 mi) to a high of 11,062 km (6,874 mi) in 2002–03.[8]

Scientists at theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutionhave been unable to identify the species of the whale. They speculate that it could bemalformedor ablue whalehybrid.[7]The research team is often contacted by deaf people who wonder whether the whale may also be deaf.[9]

Whatever biological cause underlies its unusually high-frequency voice does not seem to be detrimental to its survival. The whale's survival and apparent maturity indicate it is probably healthy. Still, its call is the only one of its kind detected anywhere and there is only one such source per season.[8]Because of this, the animal has been called the loneliest whale in the world.[5][10][11]

Calls picked up by a sensor in California in 2010 suggest that there may be more than one whale calling at 52 Hz.[3]

History

edit
Approximate map of the 52-hertz whale's migration range

The 52-hertz whale was discovered by a team from theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution.Its call was first detected in 1989, then again in 1990 and 1991.[8]In 1992, following the end of theCold War,theU.S. Navypartially declassified the recordings and technical specifications of itsSOSUSanti-submarine hydrophone arrays, and made SOSUS available for oceanographic research.[6][7]As of 2014,the whale had been detected every year since.[12]

In media

edit

Television

edit

The television movieCSI: Immortalitywritten by Anthony E. Zuiker mentions the 52-hertz whale aka The Loneliest Whale by former CSI Gil Grissom played by William Petersen.

Film

edit

The Loneliest,a shortmockumentaryfilm about two women searching for the loneliest whale, was made by Lilian T. Mehrel with support from anAlfred P. Sloan Foundationproduction grant.[13]

The title of theTaiwanesemovie52Hz, I Love You(2017) is inspired by the whale, using it as a metaphor for the loneliness experienced when looking for love.

The animated short filmThe Phantom 52premiered at theSundance Film Festivalin January 2019. The film was written and directed byGeoff Marslett,and starsTom Skerrittas the loneliest whale.[14]

The feature-length documentaryThe Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52,directed by Joshua Zeman, the director ofCropsey,and executive producersLeonardo DiCaprioandAdrian Grenier,was commercially released byBleecker Streeton July 9, 2021.[15]The film follows Zeman and a group of five scientists and oceanographers on a quest to find the whale off the coast of California. Funded through aKickstartercampaign,[16]the film received generally positive reviews among critics, holding an approval rating of 86% based on 35 reviews onRotten Tomatoes.[17]Time's Stephanie Zacharek called the film "both invigorating and calming to watch,"[18]while Katie Walsh wrote in theLos Angeles Timesthat the film is "a modern-day Moby Dick with a conservationist bent" that "surprises, delights and will keep you on the edge of your seat."[19]Sheri Linden ofThe Hollywood Reporterwrote that "the film's epilogue caps the action with a rapturous surprise",[20]referring to the sighting – complete with film footage – of ablue whale-fin whalehybrid, believed to be the source of the 52 Hz calls.

Music

edit

Montreal-based saxophone player and composerColin Stetson's 2013 albumNew History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Lightincluded a song entitled "Part of Me Apart From You". Though not explicitly written about the 52-hertz whale, when first performing the song live, he has remarked on at least several occasions that the story of the "loneliest whale" resonated deeply with his composition. "This whale is alone in a large body of water, swimming, singing its song, calling for a likeness it will never find," he said by way of introducing the song at a performance at Toronto's Great Hall on 19 May 2013. "When I play this song, I can't help but think about this whale, who right at this very minute is singing alone."[21]

South Korean groupBTS's 2015 albumThe Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2includes the track "Whalien 52", which explicitly uses the 52-hertz whale as a metaphor for the alienation from others often felt by adolescents.[22]

The English folk duoKathryn RobertsandSean Lakemanincluded the song "52 Hertz" on their 2015 albumTomorrow Will Follow Today.The song is about the whale and includes the line, "52 Hertz, 52 Hertz, I'm singing a love song that no-one can hear" in the chorus.[23]

Books

edit

In 2020, Japanese novelistSonoko Machidapublished the novel52-Hertz Whales,in which the anomalous whale serves as a metaphor for "voiceless" lonely people who find each other by chance.[24]A Japanese film adaptation of the novel premiered in 2024.[25]

In 2014, American writerLeslie Jamisonpublished an essay inThe Atavist Magazineabout the 52-hertz whale's popular appeal as a metaphor for loneliness and perseverance.[26]The piece was later included in Jamison's 2019 essay collectionMake It Scream, Make It Burn.[27]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^abc Copley, John (10 December 2004)."Lonely whale's song remains a mystery".New Scientist.Retrieved17 September2012.
  2. ^ab "Blue Whale".Bioacoustics Research Program.The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Archived fromthe originalon 26 February 2015.Retrieved13 February2015.
  3. ^abFessenden, Marissa (15 April 2015)."Maybe the World's Loneliest Whale Isn't So Isolated, After All".Smithsonian magazine.Retrieved31 October2015.
  4. ^ab Watkins, William A.; Daher, Mary Ann; George, Joseph E.; Rodriguez, David (December 2004). "Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific".Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers.51(12): 1889–1901.doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2004.08.006.
  5. ^abNelson, Bryan (20 May 2012)."52 Hertz: The Loneliest Whale in the World".Animal Planet.Discovery Communications. Archived fromthe originalon 24 December 2013.Retrieved17 September2012.
  6. ^abc Watkins, William A.; George, Joseph E.; Daher, Mary Ann; Mullin, Kristina; Martin, Darel L.; Haga, Scott H.; DiMarzio, Nancy A. (February 2000).Whale call data for the North Pacific: November 1995 through July 1999 occurrence of calling whales and source locations from SOSUS and other acoustic systems(Report). Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Technical report. WHOI-00-02.doi:10.1575/1912/350.hdl:1912/350.
  7. ^abc Revkin, Andrew C. (21 December 2004)."Song of the Sea, a Cappella and Unanswered".The New York Times.Retrieved17 September2012.
  8. ^abc Lippsett, Lonny (5 April 2005)."A Lone Voice Crying in the Watery Wilderness (with a graphic of tracking during twelve year period)".Oceanus.Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.Retrieved17 September2012.
  9. ^"A Song of Solitude".The New York Times.26 December 2004.
  10. ^ Willingham, Emily (31 March 2011)."52-Hertz song of world's loneliest whale".EarthSky.Retrieved23 September2012.
  11. ^Anderson, Ben (5 January 2011)."'World's loneliest whale' pays visit to Alaska ".Alaska Dispatch. Archived fromthe originalon 24 November 2012.Retrieved17 November2012.
  12. ^Mulvaney, Kieran (26 January 2017)."The loneliest whale in the world?".Washington Post.Animation and illustrations by Phil Borst.Retrieved23 February2017.[dead link]
  13. ^Epstein, Sonia Shechet."Premiere: Lilian Mehrel's The Loneliest".Museum of the Moving Image: Sloan Science & Film.
  14. ^"The Phantom 52".Sundance Institute.Archivedfrom the original on 15 September 2020.Retrieved9 April2020.
  15. ^"The Loneliest Whale - Bleecker Street".Bleecker Street.Retrieved1 September2021.
  16. ^"Help Find the Lonely Whale with Adrian Grenier & Josh Zeman".Kickstarter.Retrieved18 February2020.
  17. ^"The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52".Rotten Tomatoes.Retrieved1 September2021.
  18. ^"The Loneliest Whale Brings Us on an Invigorating Search for an Elusive Creature of the Deep".Time.9 July 2021.Retrieved1 September2021.
  19. ^"Review: 'The Loneliest Whale's' song resonates in the 21st century".LA Times.8 July 2021.Retrieved1 September2021.
  20. ^Linden, Sheri."Review: 'The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52': Film Review".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved1 September2021.
  21. ^Monroe, Jazz (20 May 2013)."Colin Stetson – The Great Hall, Toronto ON, May 19".exclaim!.Retrieved31 October2015.
  22. ^Benjamin, Jeff (2 December 2015)."BTS Succeeds With Mixed Styles, Emotions on 'Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2'".Billboard.Retrieved9 January2017.
  23. ^"Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman – Tomorrow Will Follow Today".Folk Radio UK – Folk Music Magazine.25 February 2015.Retrieved4 October2017.
  24. ^Yoshikawa, Akiko (10 January 2021)."“52ヘルツのクジラたち” đinh điền そのこさんインタビュー ngược げられる nhân 々の thanh なき thanh をすくう "[52-Hertz Whales:An Interview with Sonoko Machida—Uplifting the Voices of the Downtrodden and Voiceless].
  25. ^Jeong-sun, Shin; Mi-geon, Kim (11 September 2024).""'52-Hertz Whales' is for those whose cries for help go unanswered"".The Chosun Daily.Retrieved23 October2024.
  26. ^Jamison, Leslie (3 August 2014)."52 Blue".The Atavist Magazine.Retrieved7 January2024.
  27. ^Jamison, Leslie (2019).Make it Scream, Make it Burn: Essays.New York: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 3–27.ISBN978-0316259651.

Further reading

edit
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=52-hertz_whale&oldid=1252869533"