Microphones are lowered into the sea off Greenland to record the melting of the ice the ocean

An expedition of scientists and an artist is placing underwater microphones in the ocean Greenland To record and preserve the soundscape of melting icebergs.

The hydrophones will record sounds every hour for two years before being collected, collected for data, and the recordings turned into an acoustic composition.

Instruments are being lowered to different levels and temperatures to record earthquakes, landslides, wildlife, pollution and meltwater, creating an archive of “ocean memories”.

“What you hear on the hydrophone is a snapshot in time,” Siobhan Macdonald, an Irish artist, said on Tuesday, speaking from the expedition ship. “It’s like a time capsule.”

The expedition deployed five moorings with hydrophones – and a total of 12 moorings – in Davis Strait, a the arctic Gateway between Greenland and Canada.

Macdonald plans to combine the recordings with a composer, to be collected in 2024, into an acoustic installation that will explore humanity’s impact on the ocean. He will also make paintings, sculptures and other works based on these travels.

“I’m interested in listening to noise pollution. Sea level is rising and that will have an impact on sound range and all the biodiversity I’d imagine. Sound is fundamental among sea and arctic animals. Hearing is fundamental to communication, reproduction, feeding and ultimately survival. This speaks to the need to pay attention to the pollution we are causing to the ecosystems around us.”

Funded by the US National Science Foundation’s Polar Program, the 21-strong team of researchers Europe, the United States and Canada spent four weeks studying ocean salinity, whale migration, ice floe and other phenomena. The material will be used in scientific analysis and artworks including paintings, sculptures and films.

The expedition experienced high winds, rain and snow and encountered the foothills of the Nup Kangerlua Glacier. The researchers will return to the port of Nuuk in West Greenland on October 22.

The initiative comes amid growing evidence that Greenland’s melting ice cap – pouring trillions of tonnes into the ocean – could cause major sea-level rise.

Burning fossil fuels would result in a minimum rise of 27 cm (10.6 in) from Greenland alone, according to a Recent research In Nature Climate Change Journal. A separate study last year found that Greenland had a significant amount of ice On the brink of a tipping pointAfter which accelerated melting will become inevitable even if global heating is halted.

McDonald said he noticed less ice than his last visit to Greenland in 2017. “The collapse of the Greenland ice cap is a tipping point I’m dealing with, a time that has already passed.”

Still, marine life has been shown to adapt, he said. “One of the main things we discovered is that Arctic life is still rich here. Although the seascape may seem barren, it’s alive with potential. Some of the hydrophones from other expeditions came back looking like alien creatures that had strayed from the Greenland ocean. Lichens and tiny plants. was living in symbiosis with the rusting surface.”

Macdonald has also studied the release of methane from melting permafrost and the similarities between Irish peat bogs and soils exposed by disappearing glaciers, which will be featured in an exhibition next year at an arts center model in County Sligo.

Macdonald’s project is supported by the European Commission, the Arts Council of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Monaghan County Council, Creative Ireland and the non-profit GLUON and Ocean Memory Project.