Help NASA Capture the Sounds of a Total Solar Eclipse! (Audio-Described Version)

Narration:

Transcript:

During a total solar eclipse, it is almost like day becomes night very quickly.

So, knowing that there's going to be a change in that light and life-giving energy, means that we can predict when animals are going to have

a rapid shift in their behavior.

Which results in changes in the acoustic environment or the soundscape.

So, the Eclipse Soundscapes project is a project to determine how eclipses affect life here on Earth.

And there's a lot more to observation than just what you see. It's also important to think about what you hear.

We're measuring how the rapid onset of darkness during an eclipse affects wildlife by measuring the changes in sounds that they make.

The general public is best suited for this type of project because the general public is everywhere.

And that's really the power of the participatory science component of this project. It enables recordings and observations of soundscapes across the diversity of ecosystems covered by the path of totality.

We might think of some ecosystems having a greater influence of human activities on the soundscape, whereas in other ecosystems, say, a remote part of a national park, we might have a lower influence of human activities and greater influence from the sounds of life and Earth.

Audio Description: Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas will conduct a similar study for the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

The only way to properly preserve a species is to understand it. The only way to understand it is through scientific study on their behavior, their patterns, and their habitat requirements.

One of the things we'll be doing during the total solar eclipse is setting up these recording stations. So, these are our acoustic monitoring stations, and what we're doing is listening for calls of the different bat species with the hopes of maybe picking up some of those endangered species like the northern long-eared bat.

Audio description: A long-eared bat is shown.

We're hoping the results of this study will inform us about the health of our bat populations of Hot Springs National Park and help improve future conservation efforts.

The Eclipse Soundscapes project is an inclusive and accessible project that is inviting the general public to get involved in NASA science alongside scientists and subject matter experts.

Wherever you take your observations, you might be giving us information that has never been recorded before, and that is really useful and interesting to a scientist.

Audio description: A logo shows planets in the path of the Sun’s rays. Title: Heliophysics Big Year.

Audio description: In another logo, a white curve orbits the title “NASA.”

Audio description: Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.