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Researchers Make Mount Etna Sing

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sing-the-volcano-electric dept.

The Interfacer writes "Predicting eruptions will become easier now scientists are using technology to translate the patterns in a volcano's behaviour into sound waves. "The research project, which brings together experts from Europe and Latin America, digitally collects geophysical information on seismic movements before using data sonification to transform them into audible sound waves, which can then be 'scored' as melodies. The resulting 'music' is then analysed for patterns of behaviour and used to identify similarities in eruption dynamics and so predict future activity."

6 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. ...and next up on the Mt. Etna hit parade... by FlyByPC · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I feel the earth... move... under my feet..."

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  2. Dirk Gently by SmellsLike · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These 'making music out of nature' studies always remind me of that space ship in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Where the ship was anaylysing all the maths of the planet, and turning it into beautiful music which was then given to one of the classical composers.

    Having listened to the Etna sounds though its not quite Mozart. Both the audios are at the bottom of the article and not slashdotted yet. It'd be cool if they could explain what was happening at what points in the melodies. Also sounds a little like a 3-year old smashing a keyboard.

    1. Re:Dirk Gently by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

      It'd be cool if they could explain what was happening at what points in the melodies.

      Let's just say that when you hear Asus you'd better C# and run or you'll Bb.

      KFG

  3. Grant sucker-uppers? by MikeWasHere05 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm thinking the "convert raw data to music and then extract valuable data from music" step is just in there to ooh and ahh the grant boards. How can that be more efficient than just looking at the raw data?

    1. Re:Grant sucker-uppers? by semiotec · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The point is to change the data to a format that is easier to process.

      For example, if you just look at the wav spectrum or frequency spectrum of a piece of music, it's difficult to tell who was the composer. However, if you re-package the information into sounds, then it becomes much easier to analyse or identify, at least by humans.

      Of course, this is the reverse of what they are doing, i.e. their original data is not sound-based, but the idea is similar, they are hoping that the volcano's data (which is a wave form of sorts) is easier to process in the form of sounds by human ears than by looking at the graphs.

  4. Re:Obligatory by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 5, Funny

    > But will the volcano run linux?

    Yes, but only Caldera.