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Ocean surf with pebbles - (3:26 min, 3.3 MB)
Santa Maria Navarrese, Sardinia, Italy, May/June 2006

Close to the beach, the ground underwater was covered by pebbles which were moved and lifted up by the waves. This produced a continuous clicking sound of hundreds of pebbles falling gently on the ground and moving about each other, along with the sound of the waves arriving at the beach. Recording underwater near a beach is difficult because the waves move the hydrophone and the cable around, producing mechanical noise. I found that the only way to get rid of that noise is to hang the hydrophone suspended above the ground. People on the beach were wondering what I was doing but nobody asked.

Lake shore near a bridge, underwater animals - (4:41 min, 4.5 MB)
Arborea, Sardinia, Italy, May/June 2006

North of Arborea, a wonderful Bauhaus style water works building lies near the shore of a flamingo lake, with a street and a bridge between the building and the lake. The shallow warm waters near the bridge are inhabited by a rich plant life, large fish, frogs, and water insects. I don't know which of these animals produced the clicking sounds on this recording. Occasional rumble of cars crossing the bridge.

Flowing water in a channel - (4:02 min, 3.9 MB)
Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, May/June 2006

An artificial channel connects several lakes a few miles outside of Oristano. Hanging the hydrophone down into the water, I found that the fast movement of water along the hydrophone produced interesting trickling sounds with very different pitches and glissandi. I later found that more of less the same sounds are always picked up by the hydrophone suspended in fast flowing waters anywhere I tried. It probably is caused by tiny streams of air bubbles.

Boat harbour - (2:11 min, 2.1 MB)
Santa Maria Navarrese, Sardinia, Italy, May/June 2006

I sat at the end of a gently rocking floating walkway right in the middle of the boat harbour and suspended the hydrophone into the water. Underneath me, thick metal chains vanishing into the deep water, sunlight, and occasional flocks of small fish. Around me, lots of boats of varying sizes gently moving in the wind. The metal thumping and the squeaking sounds are produced by those metal chains and the boats. The fish were silent, to my disappointment. Later during the same recording (not included here) I found that outboard engines of even the smallest boats can produce an infernal noise underwater. The amount of underwater noise pollution caused by ships is much worse than I thought.

Fish Talk - (5:39 min, 5.3 MB)
Elbe-Lübeck-Kanal near Güster, Germany, May 2006

Judging from this underwater recording, the innocent looking artificial channel in Northern Germany must be home to many animals that love to communicate just like birds do. Most of the squeaking and crackling sounds are produced by various kinds of fish. The high-pitched cicada like sounds are probably produced by underwater insects. The other noises are produced by the streaming water itself, moving objects around. Some of the noise is caused by movements of the hydrophone and its cable on the stony bottom of the channel.