We are the scientists who published a recent study documenting significant noise from military aircraft on the Olympic Peninsula, leading to the recent Op-Ed by the commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island [“Navy captain: Growlers do not pose significant noise threat to southern resident orcas,” Jan. 4, Opinion]. We understand that the Navy might be concerned with the implications of these data, but object to the apparent attempts in the Op-Ed to avoid the simple factual conclusions of the research and discredit the science.
Before our study, there was no empirical data tracking the sources of aircraft