Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, and additional information follow below.
All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 9-25-15.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 28, 2015.
MUSIC – ~ 5 sec
This week, we travel to New Hampshire’s White Mountains,
where music like this is bringing sound to the realm of water-science
measurements. Have a listen for about 15
more seconds.
MUSIC - ~16 sec
You’ve been listening to an example of sonification – that is, using sound to represent data, and by doing
so, help people interpret or appreciate such data. Sonfication is used in many fields, ranging
from medicine to psychology; a Geiger counter’s clicks in response to radiation
levels is a familiar example. The
sonification you heard applies music to water and weather data—such as stream
flow [MUSIC – 3 sec], temperature [MUSIC – 3 sec], and soil
moisture [MUSIC – 2 sec]—measured at the U.S. Forest Service’s Hubbard
Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire.
Scientists have long used graphs and other visual aids to interpret
their data; Hubbard Brook’s Waterviz
project is exploring new ways that visual arts and sound can make water data
more widely understandable.
And there’s a lot at Hubbard Brook worth understanding. Hubbard Brook is a nationally important research facility, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2015. Among other achievements, acid rain research at Hubbard Brook helped lead to federal Clean Air Act amendments in 1990. Since 1998, the facility’s been one of the National Science Foundation’s long-term ecological research sites: 26 areas—including the Virginia Coastal Reserve site—that allow scientists to study large natural systems over a long time, using consistent measurements. At Hubbard Brook, stream processes within watersheds and the water cycle are studied by scientists from around the country, including from Virginia, and those studies are supported by continuous measurements that generate lots of data. Waterviz’ sonification efforts aim to help scientists and citizens alike explore those data through the ear as well as the eye.
And there’s a lot at Hubbard Brook worth understanding. Hubbard Brook is a nationally important research facility, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2015. Among other achievements, acid rain research at Hubbard Brook helped lead to federal Clean Air Act amendments in 1990. Since 1998, the facility’s been one of the National Science Foundation’s long-term ecological research sites: 26 areas—including the Virginia Coastal Reserve site—that allow scientists to study large natural systems over a long time, using consistent measurements. At Hubbard Brook, stream processes within watersheds and the water cycle are studied by scientists from around the country, including from Virginia, and those studies are supported by continuous measurements that generate lots of data. Waterviz’ sonification efforts aim to help scientists and citizens alike explore those data through the ear as well as the eye.
Thanks to Marty Quinn of Design Rhythmics Sonification
Research Lab and the Hubbard Brook staff for permission to use this week’s
music, and we close with an excerpt from the sonification of data in August
2011, including heavy rainfall, saturated soils, and surging stream flows
brought by Tropical Storm Irene on August 28.
MUSIC – ~ 13 sec
For more Virginia water sounds, music, and information, visit
us online at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. Virginia
Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part
of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo
version of Cripple Creek to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you
health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Lindsey Rustad and Marty Quinn, at the U.S. Forest
Service’s Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, for permission to use the sounds
heard in this episode and for their other help with the episode.
The excerpts used were from the sonification of all data
combined for June 2015; samples of music used for stream flow, temperature, and
soil moisture; and the sonification of all data combined for August 2011, from “Hurricane
Irene: A Combined Waterviz and Sonification,” online at http://waterviz.org/listenin.shtml.
SOURCES
Used in Audio
Thomas Hermann, Andy Hunt, and John G. Neuhoff, eds., The Sonification Handbook, Logos
Publishing House, Berlin, Germany, 2011; available online at http://sonification.de/handbook/. [Used Chapter 1 to see overview of sciences
using sonification. Chapter 20, p. 509:
“One of the oldest technological examples of auditory display is the Geiger
counter, invented by the German nuclear physicist Hans Johann Wilhelm Geiger in
1908.”]
Long-term Ecological Research Network, online at http://www.lternet.edu/. For the Virginia Coastal Reserve site, see http://www.lternet.edu/sites/vcr.
U.S. Forest Service, “Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study,” online
at http://www.hubbardbrook.org/index.shtml.
U.S. Forest Service (and several partners), “Waterviz at
Hubbard Brook,” online at http://waterviz.org/index.php
(sonification section at http://waterviz.org/listenin.shtml;
visualizations section at http://waterviz.org/hbvisualizations.shtml;
water cycle section at http://waterviz.org/watercycle.shtml).
For More Information on the Water Cycle or Watersheds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Surf Your
Watershed,” online at http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm. This site allows users to locate larger watersheds
and watershed information across the United States.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “USGS Water Science School,”
online at http://water.usgs.gov/edu/.
USGS, “Water Resources of Virginia,” online at http://va.water.usgs.gov/. This is the home page for the U.S. Geological
Survey’s Virginia Water Science Center.
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation,
“Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil_and_water/wsheds.shtml.
RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
Some previous episodes focusing on the water
cycle or watersheds include the following:
Hydrologists Study and Sing, “Where Does the Water Go?” – Episode
198, 1/27/14;
The Water Cycle – Episode
191, 12/9/13;
A Watersheds Lesson in “Mountain Stream” by Bob Gramann – Episode 156, 4/8/13;
One Big, Blue Ridge Helps Create Three Big Virginia Rivers –
Episode 209, 4/14/14;
A Musical Tour of Rivers and Watersheds – Episode
251, 2/2/15.
All episodes are listed by category at the Index link above
(http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).
SOLS INFORMATION FOR
VIRGINIA TEACHERS
This episode may help with the following Virginia’s 2010 Science
Standards of Learning (SOLs):
Grades K-6 Force, Motion, and Energy Theme
5.2 – sound creation, transmission, and use.
Grades K-6 Living
Systems Theme
6.7 - natural processes and human interactions that affect
watershed systems.
Life Science Course
LS.6 - ecosystem interactions, including the water cycle.
Physical
Science Course
PS.8 – characteristics of sound waves, including technological
applications of sound.
Earth
Science Course
ES.8 - freshwater resources, including groundwater, and
influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans.
Physics
Course
PH.2 – analyzing and interpreting data.
The episode may also help with the following Virginia 2008 Social
Studies SOLs:
Government Course
GOVT.9 – public policy at local, state, and national levels
[the episode may help with learning about the role of U.S. and state
government—via universities—in scientific research at experimental forests and
their influence on public policy.]
