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[SOUND] Interesting sound. I would have guessed a Wild West performer was practicing with a bullwhip while also vacuuming. But no. That sound [SOUND] is apparently produced by the aurora borealis, the northern lights. [SOUND]
Since 2000 researchers at Finland’s Aalto University have been collecting audio as part of what’s called the Auroral Acoustics project. Folk tales have long held that the lights also produce odd sounds, but the claims were hard to prove. And some researchers thought that any noises produced by the energetic particles that cause the light show would be far too high in the sky to be heard on the ground.
But the latest results indicate that at least some sounds are produced very close to the ground. A setup of three ground-based microphones allowed researchers to estimate that the sounds occur perhaps just 70 meters up. The results were just presented at the International Congress on Sound and Vibration in Vilnius, Lithuania.
More information about the sounds of the northern lights could lead to a more complete understanding of the phenomenon. So if you see an aurora, keep your ears open.
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
[Aurora sound by Unto K. Laine, Aalto University]
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6 Comments
Add CommentHmmmm? I've live in Canada and worked up North for decades. Never heard a peep.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe microphones, being connected to electronic systems, might have been picking up radio waves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould someone tell me what does "Wild West performer" mean? thx
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Aurora Borealis is caused by charged particles from the sun, colliding with the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. It happens at the poles because these charged particles are the most dense there (because thats where the earth's magnetic field is the greatest).
Fascinating: you might expects it to sound a bit like thunder…..
However, a big sunflare can cause other changes at 70m; not just the Borealis. What do we know about other changes?
Art.
Forgot to mention:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo well all remember the right hand rule: microphones have electrons in the wire…..electrons, and magnets= current, = sound!!!!
Maybe its a direct effect of the sun flare on the microphones….nothing to do with the Northern lights!!!!!
:))
Art
There is a simple way to differenciate between true sounds and stray noise induced in wiring.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe microphone can be enclosed along with any associated electronics in a shieled enclosure and connected to the recorder via a fibre optic cable.