exploring the role of sound and listening in natural and cultural environments
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The Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology is pleased to announce its role as a Facilitator for the Eclipse Soundscapes Project (ES). This project studies how solar eclipses affect life on Earth with focus on the upcoming April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. The Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology invites interested members of the public to join our team of acoustic monitors as citizen scientists.
What is the Eclipse Soundscapes Project?
With NASA, MSAE and a community of like-minded organizations and individuals, Eclipse Soundscapes revisits a 100-year old study that shows how animals and insects are affected by solar eclipses. With your help, including the use of modern technology, we’ll continue to study how solar eclipses affect life on Earth during the April 8, 2024 eclipse.
ES will collect acoustic data and qualitative observations from MSAE members and the general public located in the pathway of the shadow cast by the moon when it moves between the Earth and blocks the sun. For a brief time this “Zone of Totality” creates complete darkness, as if at night during daytime. Past studies show how this changes the biophony. Birds might stop singing and crickets start chirping.
Where and when?
The eclipse begins over the ocean and its path crosses Mexico through the U.S., from Texas through Michigan, and on through eastern Canada. A partial eclipse will occur in areas close to the zone of the total eclipse. Some large U.S. cities in that zone are Dallas, TX, Cleveland, OH, and Detroit, MI. To see where and when the path of the eclipse will pass use the Solar Eclipse Lookup Tool or view this map. For precise time/location use this interactive Google eclipse map developed by Xavier Jubier.
How to Participate
The Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology invites interested members of the public to join our team of acoustic monitors as citizen scientists. There are two primary ways to participate: as an Observer or as a Data Collector:
Observers will make real-time notes of natural phenomena during the eclipse event, and then submit their observations online via a webform. These observations will be collected and analyzed to help understand how the natural world responds to the eclipse.
Data Collectors will use AudioMoth recording devices to collect and record soundscape data for a 5 day period on or near the eclipse path. The devices are self-contained, so you only need to put them out on 3/6 and retrieve them 3/10. Recording data is then submitted to the national project for analysis.
Feel free to contact MSAE coordinator bob drake, fluxmonk@gmail.com, with any questions.
Please confirm your interest by Monday, March 4, 2024.
Bob will provide instructions and a small number of AudioMoths to persons for their deployment on April 8, 2024, to record the sounds during the total solar eclipse. The AudioMoth is a low-cost audio recording device (acoustic data logger) equipped with a micro-SD card.
Are you the owner of an AudioMoth?
If you plan to be in the zone of totality and are interested in joining our team, please contact our Eclipse Soundscapes Project Coordinator before April 8, at fluxmonk@gmail.com!
What if I am not interested or able to use an AudioMoth?
You are are welcome to participate. Facilitating and collecting non-technical, qualitative observations for the ES is an important part of the effort. Stay tuned for more information and dates on these opportunities, or visit the ES site’s instructions for Observers.