Melting sounds of a complete glacier recorded for the primary time

A 9-kilometre fibre-optic cable that captured the sounds of melting ice throughout a complete glacier might enhance how researchers measure ice loss

By Jeremy Hsu

A fibre-optic cable recorded the sounds of a melting glacier within the Swiss Alps throughout its total size. This marks the primary time that researchers have been in a position to seize such sounds throughout a complete glacier.

“The fact that you can just spool out a fibre on the surface of a glacier and let it get snowed in and then use that as a sensor, that’s revolutionary,” says Brad Lipovsky on the College of Washington in Seattle.

Lipovsky and his colleagues …