Unabashed

Earth has a low-frequency hum that is inaudible to human ears. Although some residents of Taos, New Mexico have reported hearing a low hum for years. Earth is mum on the cause of the hum. But this story’s brought something else to mind for me:

Following the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, reports surfaced of a remote island indigenous people who survived the event by leaving their coastal homes and hiking up into the hills and mountains of the area. The entire tribe survived. No one else had any warning of the monster tsunami, but somehow these remote people presaged what was happening and ran for higher ground. According the the AP:

[the Jarawas of South Andaman Island] used their observations of wind movement, the changing sea and the birds flying inland as a prompt for their relocation to the mountains, which saved every member of the tribe according to government officials in India.

So they followed the animals, but how did the animals know to leave? It’s been speculated on broadly. Some say they have a sixth sense, providing them with barometric sensitivity. But maybe it’s more easily explained than that: suppose the Earth’s hum changes in the event of environmental distress? We already know animals have sharper senses than us, that their hearing is more acute. Suppose that Earth hum is something they can tune to, or hear constantly. If that hum intensifies or changes fundamentally then it would be simple to assume the animals who detect it might instinctively know how to react.

But what about storms, wildfires? Animals are also amazingly adept at evading both, but those are surface or atmospheric events, could they affect the Earth hum like an earthquake or tsunami? Possibly, since scientists have speculated that the hum could be an effect caused by atmospheric waves (gravity waves?). But they’ve also speculated that the hum could be caused by the oceans, atmospheric pressure, or even the sun. Perhaps it’s caused in part by all of these, and perhaps it responds in varying degrees according to which phenomena is impacting it. If so, an animal could react in accordance to the nature of the hum, heading to higher ground in a flood, lower ground in a storm, etc.

It also occurs to me that Jupiter makes a sound as well. Science explains that it is caused by the gas giant’s massive magnetic field. But I haven’t read anywhere that Earth’s magnetic field might be causing its own hum. Maybe that’s an oversight, or maybe the magnetic field is just one more contributor to the hum, which would just increase its potential for predicting events. Perhaps the hum can somehow respond to any event on Earth. That would explain a lot.

For further information on infrasound.

And more, on Earth’s hum and how animals might respond to it.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: animals, atmosphere, Earth, gravity wave, hum, infrasound, Jupiter, magnetic, sixth sense, subsonic, tsunami