Scientists discover singing iceberg in Antarctica

Scientists discover singing iceberg in Antarctica

BERLIN (Reuters) - Scientists monitoring earth movements in Antarctica believe they have found a singing iceberg.

Sound waves from the iceberg had a frequency of around 0.5 hertz, too low to be heard by humans, but by playing them at higher speed the iceberg sounded like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists said.

The German Alfred Wegener institute for polar and marine research publish the results of its study, done in 2002, in Science magazine on Friday.

Between July and November 2002 researchers picked up acoustic signals of unprecedented clarity when recording seismic signals to measure earthquakes and tectonic movements on the Ekstroem ice shelf on Antarctica's South Atlantic coast.

Tracking the signal, the scientists found a 50 by 20 kilometer iceberg that had collided with an underwater peninsula and was slowly scraping around it.

"Once the iceberg stuck fast on the seabed it was like a rock in a river," said scientist Vera Schlindwein. "The water pushes through its crevasses and tunnels at high pressure and the iceberg starts singing."

"The tune even goes up and down, just like a real song."

Somehow, this article makes me smile.

In the midst of all that is doom and gloom about the environment, it's nice to know that icebergs sing...

[edit on 25-11-2005 by loam]

I know a sample-crazy DJ/composer guy who is gonna kill for .wavs of this iceberg! Neat find, loam.

Zip

Interesting post, Loam.

You always find something really good.

Great find

This report also made me smile, which probably needs to happen more often for all of us.

I wonder if this talented iceburg knows any S I N A T R A, of course I realize he would have to hum it.

- One Man Short ®

Maby icebergs hold the secret to the brown-sound?

Thanks loam.

This really is a wonderful world.

Thats pretty cool, and brightened up my day significantly, thanks for posting this find loam.

I was sorta hoping the news thing would have an audio file of it though, would have been interesting to listen to.

Ask and ye shall receive....

Sample Sound.

And not to be outdone, it appears icebergs' drier cousins- sand dunes- can do the same!!!



Singing Sand Dunes


[edit on 30-11-2005 by loam]

Icebergs also whine as well and THAT is quite audible to the human ear. It's a sign of melting ice releasing trapped gasses that escape from very fine cracks that form in the ice. I'm not sure if thats how this works but I remember that crazy ass who is a Berg Climber (he goes into the Ocean to find Icebergs to do some iceclimbing on...very very dangerous sport btw ) the poping and whining was very eerie sounding.

Thanks loam.

Sounds cool, but I do wish there were more.

Love your green fractal btw.

Originally posted by One Man Short of Manhood
I wonder if this talented iceburg knows any S I N A T R A, of course I realize he would have to hum it.

[url=http://www.spiritofsinatra.com/pages/Lyrics/a/Anything_Goes.htm]

Originally posted by loam
Ask and ye shall receive....

Sample Sound.

Awesome.... Man that is eery. I live nearby glaciers in the mountains, if you hike to specific locations you can hear them groan. Sometimes they release large quantities of water and it sounds like a giant is doing sprints through water. Just massive sounds. Makes the glaciers seem very much alive... sadly though, they are dying and are shrinking... almost gone

Even in my corner of the Northwest wilderness I am dealing with the loss of glaciers. It's a personal matter to us around here.

It was awesome being able to hear this You can imagine all the vents and enormous chasms filling and emptying with air... never imagined it would sound like that.