Panic-clumping whale strandings induced by VLT radio waves.

Panic strandings are a slow process of mental pod breakdown or hysteria, and meteor showers seem to be the number one cause of this phenomenon. Usually, it is simply sheer bad luck, similar to a concussion, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a trap caused by land being in the way. In the open sea, whales and dolphins can maneuver around obstructive noise; however, when land becomes an obstacle, it results in disaster.

Can meteors produce sound, and is it possible to hear them?

Meteors and bolides are a captivating sight, filling us with momentary awe and sometimes temporary shock. These fleeting streaks of light serve as reminders that numerous small rocky objects and even tinier icy particles, most no larger than grains of sand, enter Earth's atmosphere every hour, every day. Most of them burn up in Earth's atmosphere and never reach its surface. Witnessing them is an enjoyable and exhilarating experience. But can we also hear meteors? Sometimes, following a meteor shower, people claim to have heard meteors as they disintegrate in the atmosphere. Some describe a low hissing sound, akin to the sizzle of bacon, when witnessing exceptionally bright meteors. So, what exactly are people hearing? It turns out these sounds are related to very low-frequency (VLF) radio waves.

For years, professional astronomers dismissed the idea of sounds from meteors but that has now changed. Typically, a meteor burns up about 100 km above the Earth's surface. Sound travels much more slowly than light. Consequently, we shouldn't be able to hear the rumblings of a particularly large meteor until several minutes after sighting it. It's analogous to hearing thunder after the lightning flashes have already occurred.

A meteor soaring 100 km high produces a boom approximately five minutes after its appearance—a "sonic" bolide-type explosion. The noise it generates is reminiscent of the sonic boom produced by an aircraft breaking the sound barrier.

However, some meteors appear to emit sound simultaneously with their visible presence. Is this possible? Yes, such meteors are known as electrophonic meteors. The explanation lies in their emission of very low-frequency (VLF) radio waves, which travel at the speed of light. While we can't directly hear radio waves, they can induce vibrations in physical objects on Earth's surface. These vibrations give rise to a sound that our ears may perceive as the sizzling sound of a meteor streaking by. Since VLF waves travel at the speed of light, observers hear them at the same moment they see the meteors pass overhead. VLF waves can penetrate seawater to depths of at least 10–40 meters (30–130 feet), depending on the frequency and water salinity, making them useful for communicating with submarines.

These observations are crucial because Black Dolphins exhibit intriguing diving behaviour and so correspond closely to the sound behaviour of meteors. The dolphins typically take several breaths before diving for a few minutes, with feeding dives occasionally extending beyond ten minutes. Although they can dive as deep as 600 meters, most of their dives occur at depths of 30–60 meters. Shallow dives typically occur during the day, while deeper ones take place at night. When conducting deep dives, pilot whales often sprint to capture fast-moving prey, such as squid. So most of their behaviour, “relaxed day zone” is within the realm of the electrophonic meteor.

Electrophonic Fireball sounds manifest in various forms, including popping, whooshing, singing, crackling, and sizzling. If pilot whales were subjected to prolonged exposure to a meteor shower, these sounds could be disconcerting. Notably, these sounds are usually heard before the fireballs reach their maximum brightness. Their frequency falls within the 37 to 44 Hz range, which is near the lower end of the average person's audible range, typically between 20 to 20,000 Hz. If you've ever driven at high speed with your back window open, you've likely encountered a 30-Hz sound.

Interestingly, VLF sounds detected via their VLF signatures can identify 50 times more meteors than sight alone. This underscores the significance of these auditory phenomena in understanding and studying meteors. As stated below and worth repeating: An average meteor might only have a 25 db sting to the ears however when you start muliplying this over hundreds and then thousands over hours and ten of thousands over weeks you can see how a dolphin with highly tuned echolocation could get incredibly tormented. One observer counted over 200,000 an hour and another 20 a second. At 25dp each the calculation is astronomical. Now times this by 50 and the average dolphin would be in a state of panic whose measure would be impossible to comprehend.