Justin D’Souza About 200 words INTD 105 Science Writing SUNY Geneseo
Musical Ice: How Science and the Arts Collide
by Justin D’Souza
Today’s climate change puts ice shelves in risk of breaking up in the warming temperatures. Large ocean swells can stretch and crack the ice, leading to more fracturing of ice shelves. Peter Bromirski aims to understand this ocean-ice relationship by studying the effect of infragravity waves on ice. These waves, which form from the energy released when storms hit a coastline, have a larger wavelength than normal “wind waves,” and are shown to stress ice much more. Bromirski uses seismic stations in various parts of the Ross Ice Shelf to monitor the forces on the ice. Professor Glenn McClure hopes to turn the data collected by these stations into music, to “give the ice a voice.”
While the focus of the research is understanding ice shelf disintegration through scientific analysis, the project connects with artists like Dr. McClure to transform technical science into hopefully beautiful music that can be spread to the public. As we know, good science writing allows the layman to easily understand even highly technical issues, which is represented here by Dr. McClure’s work. Therefore, I wonder to what degree can various artistic mediums (audio, video, photos, drawings, etc.) be used to convey science to the public, and what effect can they have on our understanding?
That’s an interesting question you have at the end. It extends the research that can be done in McClure’s field. Nice post.
I think that’s a great question you have at the end. However, I would argue that McClure’s work doesn’t actually help convey science to the public, that it’s simply a natural beauty to be admired but not analyzed. Maybe you could write about the extent that art actually explains science rather than just displaying it in a creative way.