Earth’s Magnetic Field Converted Into Spooky Sounds for Your Listening Terror

Earth’s magnetic field is essential to our continued existence, but it sounds awfully threatening for something so helpful. The magnetic field doesn’t really have a sound, but scientists from the Technical University of Denmark have used data from an ESA satellite to convert the field’s activities into an audio experience, and it’s just right for spooky season.

The magnetic field is a product of shifting iron in the Earth’s outer core. Some other planets in the solar system have a strong field (like Mercury and Jupiter), and others do not (Mars). This field protects the planet’s surface from high-energy radiation and charged particles that would otherwise be damaging to living cells. You can see a product of the magnetic field at high latitudes when charged particles from the sun interact with it, known as the aurora borealis. Hearing the magnetic field is new, though.

The Technical University of Denmark leaned on the ESA’s Swarm satellites as the starting point for the project. The ESA launched the three satellites in 2013, outfitted with magnetometers and electric field instruments. Its goal is to provide high-resolution surveys of Earth’s magnetic field, which can provide insights not only into the field itself but into the happenings deep below the surface.

“The team used data from ESA’s Swarm satellites, as well as other sources, and used these magnetic signals to manipulate and control a sonic representation of the core field. The project has certainly been a rewarding exercise in bringing art and science together,” says musician and project supporter Klaus Nielsen of the Technical University of Denmark. The result is a cacophony of rumbling, scraping, and chirps that oscillates over the five-minute recording.

#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

If you happen to be in Copenhagen this week, you can visit Solbjerg Square to hear the sonic experience in a new way. The team has set up 30 speakers around the square, each one corresponding to a different location on Earth. The setup demonstrates how the planet’s magnetic field has shifted over the past 100,000 years. Projects like this can be a clever way to make the public feel connected to science, like when NASA uses seismic data to recreate the sound of blowing wind on Mars.

The Swarm satellites are still up there, collecting data on the magnetic field that would apparently be quite creepy if translated into audio. The mission was initially planned to last four years, but it’s coming up on nine years with all systems operating normally.

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