Collaborative Research: Immersive Audio-visualization of Seismic Wave Fields in the Earth (EarthScope Education & Outreach)

该项目的核心是开发一种方法（软件和硬件）来生成地球地震波场的同步视觉和声音表示。把这些感觉结合起来，使人们，从普通公众到经验丰富的地震学家，都能欣赏和感知地震波场模式的巨大丰富性。其目的不是模拟地震的体验，而是将波在全球传播的物理特性和地震物理的本质呈现为一种完全触觉的体验，这与任何人所感知到的都不同。该工作组由地球科学家、天体物理学家、声音和图形工程师以及教育工作者组成，他们来自拉蒙特·多尔蒂地球天文台（LDEO）、普林斯顿大学和美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）。图像和声音是由USArray和GSN数据以及光谱元素法（SEM）模拟生成的，使用SPECFEM3D软件。声音是通过将地震信号的频率转移到人类听觉范围内产生的，并及时进行过滤和拉伸，以优化视觉和声音的耦合效果。一旦方法就绪，它将采取两种一般形式：第一，一种基于网络的格式，允许人们选择地震和地震数据来收听，图像由密集的地震仪（即由IRIS产生的地面运动可视化（gmv））或地震波场模拟（即由SPECFEM3D）产生。这种形式对课堂和实验室用途、互动式博物馆展览以及地震学家对原始数据的探索性观察都很有用。第二，将为位于纽约市的美国自然历史博物馆的海登天文馆开发一个版本。这些投影在天文馆穹顶上的图像，将包括地球表面的薄膜渲染，以及观察者将看到在全球范围内传播的3D波前的体积渲染。这些声音将被调到天文馆的大型扬声器阵列上。在这个项目的背景下，几个公共项目将在天文馆进行，在制作团队的指导下，沉浸式的倾听地球的体验。这些公共项目是建立一个完整的天文馆，展示地球在太空中的动态的重要的第一步。

The core of this project is the development of a methodology (softwareand hardware) to produce synchronized visual and sonic representationsof seismic wave fields in the Earth. Coupling these senses enablespeople, from the general public to seasoned seismologists, toappreciate and perceive an enormous richness in the patterns ofseismic wave fields. The aim is not to simulate the experience of anearthquake, but to render the physics of wave propagation in the globeand the nature of earthquake physics into a completely tactileexperience, unlike anything anyone has ever perceived. The workinggroup is comprised of earth scientists, astrophysicists, sound andgraphics engineers and educators, from the Lamont Doherty EarthObservatory (LDEO), Princeton University, and the American Museum ofNatural History (AMNH).The images and sounds are generated from both USArray and GSN data, aswell as from simulations generated with the spectral element method(SEM), using the SPECFEM3D software. Sounds are generated by shiftingthe frequency of the seismic signal into the range of human hearing,and are filtered and stretched in time to optimize the coupled visualand sonic effects. Once the methodology is in place, it will take twogeneral forms:First, a web-based format that allows people to choose earthquakes andseismic data to listen to, with images produced by either a densearray of seismometers (i.e. the ground motion visualizations (GMVs)produced by IRIS of the Transportable Array data) or a simulation ofthe seismic wave field (i.e. by SPECFEM3D). This format will be usefulfor classroom and laboratory purposes, and interactive museumexhibits, as well as for exploratory observation of raw data byseismologists.Second, a version will be developed for the Hayden Planetarium at theAmerican Museum of Natural History, in New York City. The images,projected on the planetarium dome, will include the surface of theEarth rendered as a membrane and also a volumetric rendering in whichthe observer will see 3D wave fronts propagating throughout the globe.The sounds will be tuned to the large speaker array in thePlanetarium. Within the context of this project, several PublicPrograms will occur in the Planetarium, in which the immersiveexperience of listening to the Earth will be guided by the productionteam. These Public Programs are the essential first step towardsdeveloping a full planetarium show on the dynamics of the Earth atAMNH.