Date:

11-25-05

Host:

George Noory

Guests:

Open Lines, Oliver Williams

Singing Iceberg

Scientists working in Antarctica have discovered an iceberg that sings. The research team detected some unusual noises coming from the 30-by-12-mile chunk of ice after it became stuck on an underwater peninsula. Water moving through the iceberg's crevices and tunnels at high pressure generated low frequency sound waves, which when sped up sounded like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists said. Listen(1) to the iceberg (24-MB WAV file) or read more here(2).
Image: Science/Andrew Shepherd; Sound: Christian Müller, Vera Schlindwein, Alfons Eckstaller, Heinrich Miller

1. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol310/issue5752/images/data/1299/DC1/Muller.AudioS1.wav
2. http://abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_1516768.htm