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Auroral Audibility

Abstract

INCIDENTAL reference was made to the “eerie electric crackle” of auroras recently1 by a writer from Unst, the most northerly island of Shetland. A correspondent2 who had spent several winters in the Arctic and Antarctic dismissed this crackle as “an auricular illusion well known to polar explorers”. But others3–7 reported that sound (described as “crackling” or “swishing”) is indeed associated with auroras. This is widely believed by people living in regions where auroras are common8.

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BATES, D. Auroral Audibility. Nature 244, 217–218 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244217a0

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