Audio Under Ice

Here's another one of those things that is quite amazing in that special Internet kind of way: The German Alfred Wegener Institute maintains a station on the ice shelf in Antarctica and some enterprising scientists have lowered a microphone through the ice into the water under the ice shelf and the resulting audio stream - after bouncing via satellite to Germany - can be listened to live by anybody who has an Internet connection.

Now what would you be hearing there? From my casual listening, there is a constant low roar in the line, almost like white noise, which is actually kind of relaxing, and then suddenly there are loud cracks, booms and whiplashing metallic noises whenever the ice shifts.

From what the institute website states, there is a good chance of catching the songs of various kinds of seals and whales, but today I've only heard faint, low noises that may have come from whales. I'm looking forward to hear them close up.

But even just the echoing booms of the ice are fascinating and the stereo effect of the microphone is quite startling. Not sure if that makes me sound weird, but I could listen to this audio stream all day! :-)