You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Maddie Sify here with NPR Climate Correspondent Lauren Summer Hey Lauren.

Hey Maddie. So today you promised me a story about the coronavirus pandemic that is not

incredibly depressing. Yes I will not let you down and here I'll give you a hint about what it's about.

Oh it's a whale. And by my expert ears Lauren I will guess it's a big whale.

Oh expert. Yeah. That was a humpback whale in Glacier Bay National Park Alaska.

This is the time of year where they've arrived they've migrated all the way from Hawaii to

eat basically. Those cold waters in Alaska have a lot of food. Okay ready yeah I'm going to give

you another one. I'm getting like more of a free willy vibe from that one. Yeah. Sintation bonus points.

Those are killer whales. They were recorded in April swimming by the hydrophone that the National

Park Service has installed down at the bottom of Glacier Bay. Hydrophone being an

underwater microphone. Yeah you got it. But what's really important here is what you're not

hearing in those recordings which is this. Oh yeah boat noise aka human noise. There's less

humans out here making human touristy noises. Right exactly. I mean the cruise ships and the boat

tours that people take to go see the glaciers they're not happening. So the whales are getting a

break from that noise underwater and sound is really key for whales. It's how they experience the

world. So today on the show how the global slowdown is creating quieter oceans and how scientists

are using this moment to listen to how whales are responding which maybe could help protect them

from underwater noise pollution in the future. This is shortwave the Daily Science podcast from NPR.

So the whales in Glacier Bay are hanging out for the summer in this newfound quiet. How much

quieter are we talking about Lauren? That's something scientists are measuring right now. Like

Christine Gabriel. She's a wildlife biologist at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. And you know

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