AURORA RELATED SOUNDS - Public Talks, etc.

GENERAL PUBLIC TALKS, NEWS AND INTERVIEWS RELATED TO THIS PROJECT (in Finland, Sweden and Denmark)
 

•  AURORAL SOUNDS SEMINAR, Otaniemi, Finland Sep 29th 2000.
•  MTV3 Finland, interview in programme "Huomenta Suomi" (Good Morning Finland), Sep 29th 2000.
•  TV1 Finland, Evening News (in Finnish)  Sep 29th 2000.
•  SVT, Stockholm, News (in Finnish) Sep 30th 2000.
•  MTV3 Finland, programme "45 minuuttia" (45 min),  Oct 4th 2000.
•  TV1 Finland, programme "Prisma Studio"  Oct 20th 2001.
•  Newspaper Kaleva, Oulu, Finland, interview "Revontulet kokosivat tutkijat Ouluun",  Aug 21st.2001 .
•  Invited speech with audio-visual effects in Eurospeech 2001 closing ceremony, Aalborg, "The mystery of auroral sounds", Sep 7th  2001 (see more below)
•  Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Finland,   interview "Revontulet sanoivat 'hau-ki'", Oct 28th 2001.
•  Sisuradio, Luleå, Sweden, radio interview (10 min, in Finnish),  Oct 30th 2001.
•  Radio Finland, "Nature radio", interview of Dr. Esa Turunen from Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Nov 7th 2001.
•  "Revonilmalla suhahtelee, humahtelee, ritisee ja räiskyy", interview by Ilpo Koskinen, 2002
•  Sössö, a monthly paper by students at EE department of TKK (HUT). "Ääniä arktiselta taivaalta", interview by Jukka Lehtniemi, April 2004.
• Newspaper Keskipohjanmaa, Kokkola, Finland, interview, July 25th 2004.
• FST5, (YLE's digital channel in Swedish language in Finland), Mar 29th 2007.
  

EUROSPEECH SCANDINAVIA 2001, Aalborg, Denmark
Closing Ceremony  -  Europa Hall

(see pictures: fig1., fig2.,fig3.)

15.00 - 15.20   The Mystery of Auroral Sounds
Professor Unto K Laine, Laboratory of Acoustic and Audio Signal Processing
Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Invited speech

Abstract:
During clear dark nights the sky around the northern and southern polar circles are
sometimes filled with mystically dancing colorful flames.

These works of natural art are called northern lights, or "aurora borealis". For hundreds
of years people living in the northern parts of the globe have reported strange sounds
heard during the most intense auroral displays. These sounds have posed a mystery
for science and so in the 1960's an attempt was made in Alaska to record them.
No clear indication was found and since there is no physical theory able to explain
how these sounds could be created. Many geophysicists still do not believe that auroral
sounds exist.

Ten years ago when I visited Finnish Lapland with some of my friends, we heard strange
sounds during an auroral display. This was a motivating experience and caused me to
start a project where the primary goal was to find an answer to the question of whether
auroral sounds can actually physical exist. Finally, last April, after 30 lonely nights
outdoors, very interesting sound material was recorded during a strong geomagnetic
storm at Koli, in the eastern part of Finland. Even though closer analysis of this material
is still going on, we believe that the mystical auroral sounds have now been captured.
The recordings will force us to re-evaluate old Norwegian sagas about the song of Valkyries.