This week, the European Space Agency (ESA) released five minutes of eerie, crackling audio that depicts the sound of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Related: How does the Earth’s Magnetic field affect Life on Earth?
According to NASA, the magnetosphere, the Earth’s intrinsic magnetism, creates a comet-shaped field around the planet’s surface that shields it from dangerous solar and cosmic particle radiation as well as the solar wind’s erosion of the atmosphere.
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The magnetic impulses were converted to sound by scientists from the Technical University of Denmark using the ESA’s Swarm satellite project, which measures the magnetic field.
The resulting 5-minute audio features unsettling creaks and crackles as well as sounds that resemble deep breathing and has been dubbed “petrifying” and “spine-tingling spooky” by users on social media.
Loudspeakers at Solbjerg Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, have played the tape three times daily since the discovery was made public on October 24. Up to October 30, it will continue to be broadcast daily at 8 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm.
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According to musician and project supporter Klaus Nielsen from the Technical University of Denmark, “we were able to access a very interesting sound system consisting of over 30 loudspeakers dug into the ground at the Solbjerg Square in Copenhagen.” Nielsen also told the ESA about the live installation of the recording.
“A representation of a geomagnetic storm that occurred as a result of a solar flare on November 3, 2011, is accompanied by the rumbling of Earth’s magnetic field, and it does sound quite frightening,” Nielsen continued.
Requests for response from insiders were not immediately answered by representatives of the Technical University of Denmark or the European Space Agency.
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