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| Some wild sounds when this chunk of ice was dropped down a 450-foot hole in the ice down in Antarctica |
Popular Mechanics perfectly describes the sound you'll hear in the video. (I confess I thought of Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes, too).
According to Popular Mechanics:
"Princeton University geochemist John Andrew Higgins shared the video, which stars someone's hands only as they drop a chunk of ice down a 450-foot bore hole. The sound begins to bounce in layers, equal parts space laser and Old West shootout from a Bugs Bunny Cartoon."
A lot of the sounds you'll hear in the video below has to do with the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect the reason car horns sound like they're falling in pitch as you drive past them.
Says Popular Mechanics:
"'The first thing you hear as is the ice falling is the pitch of the sound changing,' (Researcher Peter) Neff explains in the video. 'That's the Doppler effect. Then when the ice hits the bottom of the bore hole, the sound doesn't only come straight up - the sound waves start to bounce off the sides of the hole. That's why you hear the plink! with sort of a heartbeat sound afterwards.'"
The scientists are taking ice core samples and finding some at the bottom that can be up to 800,000 years old. Air bubbles trapped in that ancient ice can give clues as to what the Earth's atmosphere was like eons ago, and how the chemistry of the air has changed over that time.
Here's the video. It replays several times so you can hear it over and over again. Definitely turn the sound up, but headphones please if you are at work, out in public, etc. You will want to hear it again and again. I know I did:
In a somewhat related development, an endurance swimmer recently decided to put on his Speedos and swim in a pocket of water around some Antarctic ice, to raise awareness of climate change.
Besides the activism, the videographer captures some really cool colors and hues in Antarctic ice and water.
Here's his video:
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