DataSheet1_Listening to the Magnetosphere: How Best to Make ULF Waves Audible.PDF

Observations across the heliosphere typically rely on in situ spacecraft observations producing time-series data. While often this data is analysed visually, it lends itself more naturally to our sense of sound. The simplest method of converting oscillatory data into audible sound is audification—a one-to-one mapping of data samples to audio samples—which has the benefit that no information is lost, thus is a true representation of the original data. However, audification can make some magnetospheric ULF waves observations pass by too quickly for someone to realistically be able to listen to effectively. For this reason, we detail various existing audio time scale modification techniques developed for music, applying these to ULF wave observations by spacecraft and exploring how they affect the properties of the resulting audio. Through a public dialogue we arrive at recommendations for ULF wave researchers on rendering these waves audible and discuss the scientific and educational possibilities of these new methods.

对日光层（heliosphere）的观测通常依托原位航天器观测所生成的时序数据。尽管这类数据常以可视化方式开展分析，但其天然更适配人类的听觉感知。将振荡数据转换为可听声音的最简单方法是声化（audification）——即数据采样与音频采样的一一映射——其优势在于不会丢失任何原始信息，可完整复现原始数据。不过，声化处理会使得部分磁层超低频（ULF）波的观测数据播放速度过快，导致实际聆听难以有效进行。为此，本文详述了一系列源自音乐领域的现有音频时长调整技术，并将其应用于航天器观测的ULF波数据，同时探究这些技术对生成音频的特性所产生的影响。通过公开研讨交流，我们为ULF波研究人员制定了此类波的可听化渲染方案，并探讨了这些新方法在科研与科普领域的应用前景。