Sonification of the atmospheric carbon record: 1988–1992 and 2014–2019

These two pieces are part of a collection of sound compositions called Timescales, which sonifies datasets spanning different time scales of the atmospheric carbon record. Sonification is analogous to visualization. In visualizations, data is mapped to an image; in sonification data is mapped to sound. In Situ 1988 and In Situ 2014 both sonify five years of atmospheric carbon data from the Mauna Loa Observatory, commonly known as the Keeling Curve. The pieces present the carbon record at weekly, monthly, and yearly timescales with a musical scale and translate historical time to musical time. Unlike standard graphical presentations of data, these sound compositions allow the listener to hear the data as physical resonance over time.