An expedition of scientists and an artist is deploying underwater microphones in the ocean off Greenland to record and preserve the soundscape of melting icebergs.
The hydrophones will record sounds every hour for two years before being collected, harvested for data and the recordings processed into an acoustic composition.
Instruments are lowered to different levels and temperatures to record earthquakes, landslides, wildlife, pollution and melting waters, creating an archive of the “memory of the ocean”.
![An iceberg off Greenland.](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Microphones-dropped-into-ocean-off-Greenland-to-record-melting-icebergs.jpg)
“What you hear in the hydrophones is a snapshot of the weather,” Irish artist Siobhán McDonald said on Tuesday, speaking from the expedition ship. “It’s like a time capsule.”
The expedition deployed five moorings with hydrophones – and 12 moorings in total – in the Davis Strait, an Arctic gateway between Greenland and Canada.
McDonald plans to work with a composer to incorporate the recordings, which are due to be collected in 2024, into an acoustic installation that will explore humanity’s impact on the ocean. She will also make paintings, sculptures and other works based on the trip.
![An oceanographic mooring deployed during a previous expedition.](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666181208_953_Microphones-dropped-into-ocean-off-Greenland-to-record-melting-icebergs.jpg)
“What interests me is hearing the noise pollution. The sea level is rising and this will have an impact I imagine on the sound range and on all the biodiversity. Sound is fundamental in ocean and arctic animals. Hearing is fundamental for communication, reproduction, feeding and ultimately survival. It speaks to the need to pay attention to the pollution we cause to the ecosystems around us.
![Siobhán Mcdonald on a previous expedition to Greenland.](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666181208_962_Microphones-dropped-into-ocean-off-Greenland-to-record-melting-icebergs.jpg)
Funded by the Polar Program of the National Science Foundation of the United States, the team of 21 European, American and Canadian researchers has been at sea for four weeks to study sea salinity, whale migrations, sea ice and other phenomena. The material will be used in scientific analyzes and works of art, including paintings, sculptures and films.
The expedition experienced high winds, rain and snow and coincided with the calving of the Nuup Kangerlua glacier. The researchers are due to return to the port of Nuuk, in western Greenland, on October 22.
The initiative came amid growing evidence that the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet – trillions of tonnes have poured into the ocean – will lead to a major rise in sea levels.
The results of burning fossil fuels will cause a minimum rise of 27 cm (10.6 inches) in Greenland alone, according to a recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change. A separate study last year found that a significant part of the Greenland ice sheet was on the brink of a tipping point, after which accelerated melting would become inevitable even if global warming were halted.
McDonald said she noticed less ice compared to her last visit to Greenland in 2017. -have already passed.”
Even so, marine life seems to be adapting, she said. “One of the main things we discovered is that up in the Arctic, life is still thriving. Although the seascape may seem barren, it is full of possibilities. Some of the hydrophones from another expedition came back looking like alien creatures coming out of the Greenland ocean. Lichens and tiny plants lived in symbiosis with the rusty surfaces.
McDonald has also researched the release of methane from melting permafrost and the similarities between Irish bogs and the soil exposed by vanishing glaciers, which will feature in an exhibit at Model, an arts center in County Sligo, Ireland. next year.
![Work mixing glacier ice and methane ink.](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666181208_343_Microphones-dropped-into-ocean-off-Greenland-to-record-melting-icebergs.jpg)
The McDonald’s project has received support from the European Commission, the Arts Council of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Monaghan County Council, Creative Ireland and non-profit organizations GLUON and Ocean Memory Project.
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