Transcript Slides - TERENA Networking Conference 2010

Volcano Dance
A Creative Union of Science, Technology & Art
Tom Fryer (DANTE, UK)
TERENA NETWORKING CONFERENCE 2010
Arts and Humanities Session
Monday, 31st May 2010
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Volcano Eruptions:
The Local Effects
Power outages, water contamination
Evacuation; effects on health of
local population; loss of life
Destruction of homes,
property, farmland…
Loss of livelihood
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Volcano Eruptions:
The Effects Further Afield
Acid rain
Air travel restrictions
Weather and climate
Economic disruption
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Predicting Volcano Eruptions:
Methodologies
Seismic activity
Gas emissions
Ground deformation
Thermal monitoring
Hydrology
Remote satellite sensing
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Volcano Sonification:
Seismograms to Melodies
To make volcano seismograms audible
To correlate seismic stages with sound patterns / melodies
To discover the “signature tune” of an eruption
Italy, 2001
University of Catania and the
Italian National Institute of
Nuclear Physics (INFN)
Sonification of Mount Etna
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Data Sonification:
The Process
Data sonification is the representation of data by sound
(waveforms, melodies)
The acoustic counterpart of graphs
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Converting the Seismogram to Music
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Etna Sonification Score:
The score inherits the same
characteristics (regularities,
behaviour) of the seismogram
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Sonification on Computing Grids
A one-second seismic sample generates 120
MB of data.
40 seconds of
seismic data =
Converting seismic data into sound waves is
computationally demanding.
Grids provide the necessary computing power
and distributed data storage:
EGEE, EELA/EELA2 and EUMEDGRID
supported by GÉANT, EUMEDCONNECT
and RedCLARA
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From Science to ‘Singing Volcanoes’
Volcano scores are also musically interesting!
They inherit the richness of nature
They can be played by any musician
Science
The Arts
Ecuador, 2006
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) joins
sonification project: Mount Tungurahua
Music from Mt. Tungurahua played at Launch of Ecuador’s
National Research and Education Network (CEDIA)
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From ‘Singing’ to ‘Dancing Volcanoes’
Washington D.C., 2008
‘Singing Volcanoes’ sparks ‘The Mountain’
Dance Performance by CityDance Ensemble
The Arts
Science
Philippine choreographer, Jason Garcia Ignacio, inspires involvement of
Philippine researchers in Sonification Project:
Volcano Monitoring & Eruption Prediction Division, PHIVOLCS,
Philippines
Mounts Pinatubo and Mayon
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The Mountain:
From Volcano to Stage
Music based on seismograms of 4 volcanoes: Etna, Tungurahua, Pinatubo,
Mayon); Choreography by Jason Garcia Ignacio
The Mountain: world premiere 10-11 Sept 2009, The Kennedy Center,
Washington DC, USA
Website: www.volcanodance.org
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Volcano Sonification
The Status Today
The work continues:
Researchers have started to identify correlations between
seismograms and volcanic activity, including eruptions.
The involvement of more volcanoes will contribute to attempts to
discover volcano signature tunes.
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