Magnetic Field Music

NPR is hosting a fascinating audio clip that features Dave Engebretson, a blind geophysicist who has created an interesting sound piece that reflects the history of Earth's magnetic field reversals. His audio creation is an interpretation of data sets obtained from deep within oceanic crust. The length of the polarity intervals are converted in to the frequencies of the sounds created. Noticable musical patterns emerge, and strikingly, the frequency of the polarity reversals increases towards the end of the piece, reflecting the increasingly tumultuous history of Earth's magentic field leading right up to the present.

Photo courtesy Flickr user bistrosavage