making the vlf recorder to record the northern lights (2024)
Galleri Snerk. Tromsø, Norway
I found an article online about Unto Laine, who led the auroral acoustics program in Finland. He set up an experiment to prove that there is an apparent sound linked to the northern lights, believed to be caused by Schumann resonances and recordable through electromagnetic waves.
His setup included a Brüel & Kjær 4179 microphone (on the left), mounted at the focus of a reflector dish, which was connected to a Zoom H4n recorder with two internal mics (on the right) placed 13.4 meters away. Additionally, a VLF antenna (in the middle) was connected to the recorder to capture fluctuations in the magnetic field.
I created a simpler version, using just a VLF recorder wire: 27 AWG, a jack, and a Zoom H5 recorder.