Climate change could make it harder to detect submarines - New Scientist
Climate change could make it harder to detect submarines | New Scientist
The attack submarine USS Hampton is surfaced through ice on the Arctic Ocean in 2024 Specialist 1st Class Justin Yarborough/U.S. Navy
The attack submarine USS Hampton is surfaced through ice on the Arctic Ocean in 2024
Specialist 1st Class Justin Yarborough/U.S. Navy
Climate change could reduce the range of sonar detection in certain ocean regions, making it harder to hunt down submarines prowling beneath the waves.
Sonar is crucial for military efforts to track rivals’ ballistic missile submarines. These vessels can lurk in the ocean depths for months before launching a dozen or more nuclear-tipped missiles in the event of a nuclear war. Submarines can also play their more traditional role of attacking surface ships in conventional…
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.