Some deserts
sing bass.
The Institute of Desert Acoustics studies booming dunes — sand seas that hum at the bottom of a cello's range when their slip faces let go. The grains below are moving on tonight's wind.
Click the sand to trigger a boomA dune is a loudspeaker
the size of a hill.
When dry grains avalanche down a slip face in step, the whole dune resonates. The pitch depends on grain size alone — which is why each singing desert holds one note for centuries.
78 Hzthe Kelso dunes, California — an E-flat, more felt than heard
105 Hzthe Omani Wahiba sands — loud enough to stop a conversation
10 kmhow far a strong boom carries on a still night
0.15 mmthe grain diameter that tunes a dune — sieved by ten thousand years of wind
Where we listen.
ERG-01 · SAHARA
Recording since 2016
Chott El Djerid array
Forty geophones buried at the slip face, waiting for the afternoon avalanche.
ERG-04 · GOBI
Seasonal
The whispering crescent
A barchan that hums for eleven seconds after every footstep. We take our boots off.
ERG-07 · NAMIB
Permanent
Dune 7 listening post
The tallest instrumented dune on Earth. The boom arrives through your sternum first.