The sound of Antarctic science
Most people think of Antarctica as a place of silence: vast ice, empty skies and a wilderness far from everyday life.
But Antarctica is full of sound.
Above the ice, natural radio waves travel through the atmosphere and near-Earth space. These signals are shaped by lightning, solar activity and the magnetic environment around our planet. BAS instruments record them to help scientists understand space weather – disturbances from the Sun that can affect satellites, communications, navigation and power systems on Earth.
At sea, the Southern Ocean has its own hidden soundtrack. On board the RRS Sir David Attenborough, life on a polar research ship can be heard in the thrum of engines, the movement of machinery, the force of wind through doors, the calls of penguins and fur seals, and the strange, immersive sound of the ocean captured through underwater microphones.
The BAS Sounds of Space project brings these worlds together.
It shows how real recordings from polar science can be transformed into music, visual art, live performance and public engagement. Radio waves recorded above the ice, field recordings from the Southern Ocean, wildlife calls, ship sounds and ocean noise become part of a creative journey into Antarctica and the research that happens there.
The creative outputs are produced by the Sounds of Space Project art-science group, which brings BAS science together with music, visual art and performance. Its albums, visual sequences and live events invite audiences to experience polar research in a different way. Earlier performances have also included contemporary dance, with performers responding physically to the recordings and data.
The latest album, Infinitas Formas, by the Sounds of Space Project with recordings made on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough, builds on this approach. Inspired by the BIOPOLE II expedition to the Southern Ocean in early 2025, it invites listeners to travel with the scientists and crew on one of the world’s most advanced polar research ships. Across the tracks, Antarctica is heard not as a distant landscape, but as a living, working environment – shaped by weather, wildlife, ocean, machinery and people.
The accompanying artwork adds another route into the story. A series of oil paintings responds to the sounds and science through colour, texture and movement, translating what can be heard into something people can also see.
This is science communication in a different key. Instead of beginning with data, reports or graphs, Sounds of Space begins with listening. It gives people a new way into Antarctic research: through sound, music and creativity.
Antarctica can feel remote from ordinary life, even though the science carried out there helps us understand changes that affect the whole planet. By turning polar research into music, visual art and performance, Sounds of Space reaches people who may never attend a science lecture, read a technical report or visit the ice.
From radio waves above Antarctica to the sounds of the Southern Ocean, Sounds of Space opens a new door onto polar science. It helps people hear why this remote, changing place matters and why the research taking place there belongs to all of us.