If, for example, the testing drives the whales from their breeding ground, says Achitoff, that could affect reproduction. Both the Navy and Chris Clark insist that the levels will never get that high. They're confident their experiment won't adversely affect the whale population. Depends on who you ask. The Navy says their sonar would sound like a lawnmower if you stood six feet away from the source.
Environmentalists say it'd be like standing on the tarmac when a jet takes off.
But water changes the quality of sound, and whales, after all, are not humans. The loudness depends on how far you are from the source of the sound. But the 180 decibels, which is the starting level for the navy sonar tests, cannot be easily translated into whale terms. If you stuck your head underwater, the LFAS would sound like a deep low groan. That deep groan can be heard by whales for hundreds, and in certain ocean conditions, thousands of miles.