17 November 2023 , 19:28
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This eerie audio captures the unnerving rumbling residents will hear when the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland erupts.
Seismic frequencies are transformed into audible pitches to create the clip, shared widely online, as Iceland braces for a significant eruption within days. More than 4,000 residents of the fishing town of Grindavík have been evacuated in preparation for the disaster.
An app, developed by scientists at a university in Illinois, US, has created a mirror of the sounds residents are likely to hear when the seismic activity ramps up further. The cacophony of din is akin to doors slamming, hail pelting against a tin roof or window and people cracking trays of ice cubes, researchers say.
An image taken with a drone shows cracks next to a children playground in Grindavík (AP)Suzan van der Lee, who co-developed Earthtunes at Northwestern University, said: "The activity is formidable, exciting and scary. Iceland did the right thing by evacuating residents in nearby Grindavík and the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant, one of the world's oldest geothermal power plants, which was the first to combine electricity generation with hot water for heating in the region"
The massive volcanic eruption could wipe out the entire town, release toxic fumes and trigger widespread disruption. Iceland has declared a state of emergency following concern huge amounts of magma was spreading underground and could surface.
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The Icelandic Highways Agency has worked to keep road systems open in and around the fishing town (Vegagerðin)Members of the public can listen to several clips emulating the sounds, and each are from 24 hours of seismic activity recorded by the Global Seismographic Network station from November 10-11. Ms van der Lee added: "What you're hearing is 24 hours of seismic data — filled with earthquake signals. The vast majority of these quakes are associated with the magma intrusion into the crust of the Fagradallsfjall-Svartsengi-Grindavik area of the Reykjanes Peninsula. Icelandic seismologists have been monitoring these quakes and their increasing vigour and changing patterns.
"They recognised similar patterns to earthquake swarms that preceded the 2021–2023 eruptions of the adjacent Fagradallsfjall volcano." Today, around 90 residents, only two allowed in each car, were escorted back to the abandoned Grindavík to collect valuables. Their time was strictly restricted to 30 minutes.
Smari Karlsson (left) and Thrudmar Karisson (right) retrieved items for their sister Lilja Jónína Karlsdòttir and mum Jóhanna Asigeurdottar (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)Two brothers, waiting to go in at the police checkpoint, told The Mirror how they were collecting their 94-year-old mother’s belongings, after she was evacuated from her care home. Tearfully they told how she has pleaded with them "I don't want to die alone" after being moved further away from her family twice since the earthquakes began.
She is now living in a room with seven other elderly residents, in the capital of Reykjavik. Her youngest son Thrudmar Karisson, 53, said: "It’s eating them up alive.
"When the earthquakes were happening I was on the phone to her and I could hear the stress in her voice as she said ‘oooh there’s another one’'. They could barely stand and the house was shaking and breaking apart.
"There’s a 30 cm gap down the side of the house now. She said she had never experienced anything like it in her whole life."