The sound of melting glaciers is disturbingly similar to the psychedelic tunes that made Jim Morrison’s The Doors one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all times.
That was my first thought as I listened to recordings of the Kongsvegen glacier in Svalbard captured by Ugo Nanni, a researcher from the University of Oslo who records glacier sounds using a seismometer. He then post-processes the frequencies to make the sounds audible.
Interestingly, Nanni’s research plays into Morrison’s 1969 prediction that in the future music would be made by "one person with a lot of machines, tapes and electronic setups.” What Morrison probably never imagined was that music and machines would be used to make climate change research.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.