Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark measured magnetic signals with a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite and converted them into sound.
The work produced squeaks, squabbles, and bangs, sounds that could replace the soundtrack of horror movies.
The scientists used satellite data in this way to remind listeners of the magnetic field, which continues to protect life on Earth from cosmic radiation.
#Halloween is only a week away. What’s on your playlist? Maybe a bit of Thriller? Some Hocus Pocus? Or is it.. perhaps… the SCARY SOUND OF EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD? ????????⬛????????????♂️????????https://t.co/uogAmhpgLM
— ESA Swarm mission (@esa_swarm) October 24, 2022
Musician and project supporter Klaus Nielsen, from the Technical University of Denmark, said: ‘The team used data from the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites, as well as other sources, and used these magnetic signals to manipulate and control the sound representation of the underlying field. The screeching of Earth’s magnetic field is accompanied by a representation of a magnetic storm. Earth caused by a solar flare on November 3, 2011, and in fact it looks very scary.”
Earth’s magnetic field is generated largely by the superheated liquid iron, which makes up our planet’s outer core, 1,900 miles (3,000 km) below the surface.
As heat escapes from the inner core, the iron moves in convective currents, and the movement generates powerful electric currents.
The rotation of the Earth on its axis causes these electric currents to form a magnetic field that extends around the planet and into space.
In addition to allowing the compass to function, the magnetic field protects us from the bombardment of cosmic radiation and from charged particles carried by the solar wind.
The magnetic field can actually attract some of these charged particles, causing them to collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen.
And when they do, some of the energy in the collisions turns into green and blue light – known as the aurora borealis.
This is the only visual representation of the magnetic field that we can experience, but other than that it is invisible and does not make a sound.
The European Space Agency (ESA) trio Swarm satellites were launched in 2013 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome platform in Russia, and are currently used to understand exactly how our magnetic field is created, by measuring magnetic signals that originate from the Earth’s core and core (Mantel, mantle, mantle), from crust and oceans, as well as from the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
The Swarm mission also looks at the effects of space weather on our atmosphere.
Scientists in Denmark collected data from the Swarm satellites and translated it into sound waves, making our magnetic field audible for the first time. This audio clip was accompanied by the sound of a solar storm.
Using 30 loudspeakers dug into the ground at Solberg Square in Copenhagen for a week at 08:00, 13:00 and 19:00, the team was able to pick up the magnetic signals.
“We set up this system so that each speaker represents a different location on Earth and shows how our magnetic field has fluctuated over the past 100,000 years. The project was certainly a useful exercise in bringing together art and science,” Nielsen said.
It is noteworthy that in 2019 astronomers recorded the strange “song” that the Earth’s magnetic field sang when it was hit by a storm of charged particles sent from the sun.
The result was an audio version of the aurora borealis light display, which can be seen near the poles when charged particles interact with Earth’s atmosphere.
Experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) analyzed the magnetic waves produced when this “solar wind” sinks the Earth, and converted the results into audible frequencies.