Witness Engines
@witnessengines.bsky.social
Witness Engines chart and perform as music the condition of the planet in realtime. This is the sound of solastalgia. Developed by @michaelbegg.studio
https://youtube.com/@witnessengines
https://youtube.com/@witnessengines
Pinned
Hello BSKY.
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble
The audio engine on the weather/AQ engine is now binaural so listen with headphones if you can.
Here, we have a grim night in Dhaka. Rain, clouds, haze and grim particulate levels:
youtu.be/Qd4rXNth9MY
Here, we have a grim night in Dhaka. Rain, clouds, haze and grim particulate levels:
youtu.be/Qd4rXNth9MY
Air Quality and Weather: Dhaka 300925
YouTube video by Witness Engines
youtu.be
September 30, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The audio engine on the weather/AQ engine is now binaural so listen with headphones if you can.
Here, we have a grim night in Dhaka. Rain, clouds, haze and grim particulate levels:
youtu.be/Qd4rXNth9MY
Here, we have a grim night in Dhaka. Rain, clouds, haze and grim particulate levels:
youtu.be/Qd4rXNth9MY
Behind The Beat podcast - extensive interview about Michael Berg's Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute musician residency in Antarctica: youtu.be/ztq0BVuyG08
Behind the Beat Podcast #47 with Michael Begg – Horror & Beauty
YouTube video by Beat Magazin
youtu.be
August 28, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Behind The Beat podcast - extensive interview about Michael Berg's Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute musician residency in Antarctica: youtu.be/ztq0BVuyG08
Fifteen Questions. Interview with @michaelbegg.studio about Antarctica, data composition and what the unity of science with art can offer: 15questions.net/interview/mi...
15 questions | Interview | Michael Begg | "We’re absurdly lucky to be here. So why do we flirt continually with the end?"
15 questions.net
15questions.net
August 12, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Fifteen Questions. Interview with @michaelbegg.studio about Antarctica, data composition and what the unity of science with art can offer: 15questions.net/interview/mi...
Meanwhile in the BAS Rothera research base, Antarctica, there is a bit of ozone, a bit of snow and a balmy -4º today. Surprising to see that the air quality index is only 2 (fair)
August 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Meanwhile in the BAS Rothera research base, Antarctica, there is a bit of ozone, a bit of snow and a balmy -4º today. Surprising to see that the air quality index is only 2 (fair)
Live weather sonification from Amundsen-Scott station in Antarctica today -42º high humidity and full cloud cover. No AQ readings. Makes for a thin, high slightly elegiac soundscape
August 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Live weather sonification from Amundsen-Scott station in Antarctica today -42º high humidity and full cloud cover. No AQ readings. Makes for a thin, high slightly elegiac soundscape
'Restless Earth' Witness Engine now live streaming: global earthquakes and US 'elevated' volcanoes.
Turn it on, leave it running, be tuned to the restless earth in your doings
www.youtube.com/live/KJtOBzf...
Turn it on, leave it running, be tuned to the restless earth in your doings
www.youtube.com/live/KJtOBzf...
Witness Engines - earthquakes and volcanoes
YouTube video by Witness Engines
www.youtube.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:00 AM
'Restless Earth' Witness Engine now live streaming: global earthquakes and US 'elevated' volcanoes.
Turn it on, leave it running, be tuned to the restless earth in your doings
www.youtube.com/live/KJtOBzf...
Turn it on, leave it running, be tuned to the restless earth in your doings
www.youtube.com/live/KJtOBzf...
Reposted by Witness Engines
Vandalising music to inspire action on wildlife decline:
Sigur Ros’s, Hoppipolla - from BBC's Planet Earth - is damaged to show 50 years of wildlife decline, based on data.
Blog: edin.ac/4fZSIXC
Article: doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
#SciComm #SciArt 🧪 🦤 #sonification #SoundArt
vimeo.com/1031069761
Vandalising Sigur Ròs’s Hoppípolla to Inspire Action on Wildlife Decline
Music is often used to move and inspire us – whether it’s played at a political rally or a football game. But could it also help us to understand the…
vimeo.com
November 22, 2024 at 12:28 PM
Vandalising music to inspire action on wildlife decline:
Sigur Ros’s, Hoppipolla - from BBC's Planet Earth - is damaged to show 50 years of wildlife decline, based on data.
Blog: edin.ac/4fZSIXC
Article: doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
#SciComm #SciArt 🧪 🦤 #sonification #SoundArt
vimeo.com/1031069761
Reposted by Witness Engines
The monitoring station on Mauna Loa provides the longest direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Trump wants to shut it down, which is like taking the batteries out of your screaming smoke alarm and pretending the house isn't on fire. #climatechange
Trump wants to shut it down, which is like taking the batteries out of your screaming smoke alarm and pretending the house isn't on fire. #climatechange
July 21, 2025 at 5:01 AM
The monitoring station on Mauna Loa provides the longest direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Trump wants to shut it down, which is like taking the batteries out of your screaming smoke alarm and pretending the house isn't on fire. #climatechange
Trump wants to shut it down, which is like taking the batteries out of your screaming smoke alarm and pretending the house isn't on fire. #climatechange
It is a beautiful morning in Manhattan - clean air, clear sky. So listen in to the Witness Engine streaming live...
www.youtube.com/live/LiJ_-FS...
www.youtube.com/live/LiJ_-FS...
Manhattan in the morning
YouTube video by Witness Engines
www.youtube.com
July 19, 2025 at 9:37 AM
It is a beautiful morning in Manhattan - clean air, clear sky. So listen in to the Witness Engine streaming live...
www.youtube.com/live/LiJ_-FS...
www.youtube.com/live/LiJ_-FS...
Reposted by Witness Engines
Rapid sea ice loss, warming oceans, collapsing ice shelves & krill overfishing threaten Southern Ocean ecosystems—and human food chains. A proposed Marine Protected Area is stalled amid geopolitical roadblocks.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
The world can’t afford to ignore the ecological crises unfolding in Antarctica
At the bottom of the world lies a region as magnificent as it is misunderstood: Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Harsh, remote and ice-bound, this vast area may seem disconnected from everyday human life. But make no mistake, what happens in Antarctica does not stay in Antarctica. Its transformations ripple across the globe, raising sea levels, disrupting weather patterns and reshaping ocean ecosystems far from the polar latitudes.
www.reuters.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Rapid sea ice loss, warming oceans, collapsing ice shelves & krill overfishing threaten Southern Ocean ecosystems—and human food chains. A proposed Marine Protected Area is stalled amid geopolitical roadblocks.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Reposted by Witness Engines
Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 7th lowest on record (JAXA data)
• about 160,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,820,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,640,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
• about 160,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,820,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,640,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
July 18, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 7th lowest on record (JAXA data)
• about 160,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,820,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,640,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
• about 160,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,820,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,640,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Checking in live on UK carbon intensity. Scotland (low) England (moderate) Wales (VERY high) Check out the percentage spread of where the nations energy is being produced/consumed. Note a 78%+ dependance on gas in Wales during the industrial working day!
July 17, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Checking in live on UK carbon intensity. Scotland (low) England (moderate) Wales (VERY high) Check out the percentage spread of where the nations energy is being produced/consumed. Note a 78%+ dependance on gas in Wales during the industrial working day!
Reposted by Witness Engines
Some places will have to start rationing water - to enable AI slop.
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
www.nytimes.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Some places will have to start rationing water - to enable AI slop.
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
Vertical migration of plankton in the Arctic sea is changing to a lunar day timetable because of diminishing sea ice. Here, you can visually and sonically witness the rise and fall of moon and sun, moon phase, and the depth of plankton during those cycles youtu.be/VjZPuGNBD1o?...
Zooplankton Nocturne
YouTube video by Witness Engines
youtu.be
July 15, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Vertical migration of plankton in the Arctic sea is changing to a lunar day timetable because of diminishing sea ice. Here, you can visually and sonically witness the rise and fall of moon and sun, moon phase, and the depth of plankton during those cycles youtu.be/VjZPuGNBD1o?...
Michael Begg in Antarctica gathering field recordings for his Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute / Royal Navy musician residency. Here interviewed by the BBC...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'I travelled from Edinburgh to Antarctica to make music'
Michael Begg spent nearly three months aboard the Royal Navy's ice patrol vessel, HMS Protector.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 14, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Michael Begg in Antarctica gathering field recordings for his Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute / Royal Navy musician residency. Here interviewed by the BBC...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Witness Engines
Air pollution linked to lung cancer-driving DNA mutations, study finds
Research finds that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-promoting mutations are present
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Research finds that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-promoting mutations are present
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Air pollution linked to lung cancer-driving DNA mutations, study finds
Research finds that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-promoting mutations are present
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Air pollution linked to lung cancer-driving DNA mutations, study finds
Research finds that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-promoting mutations are present
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Research finds that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-promoting mutations are present
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Witness Engines
Recommended read: A BBC News “in depth” article explored the growing “battle” for control over the Arctic, along with the security challenges from climate change and other issues in “one of the world’s coldest places”.
📝 @gordoncorera.bsky.social
📝 @gordoncorera.bsky.social
The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating - and riskier than ever - BBC News
It is in no one’s interest to militarise the Arctic but thanks to something of an arms race heating up between the US, Russia and China, that is precisely what looks to be happening.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 13, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Recommended read: A BBC News “in depth” article explored the growing “battle” for control over the Arctic, along with the security challenges from climate change and other issues in “one of the world’s coldest places”.
📝 @gordoncorera.bsky.social
📝 @gordoncorera.bsky.social
Today, a 5.2 mag quake 280 km SSE of Port Blair, India gives the Witness Engine a chance to exercise its 4.5+ alert.
This engine uses free API live data from USGS.GOV
youtu.be/HMYHz_76ROM
#data #sonification #composition #quake #earthquake #maxmsp
This engine uses free API live data from USGS.GOV
youtu.be/HMYHz_76ROM
#data #sonification #composition #quake #earthquake #maxmsp
Earthquakes in last 60 minutes
YouTube video by Witness Engines
youtu.be
July 13, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Today, a 5.2 mag quake 280 km SSE of Port Blair, India gives the Witness Engine a chance to exercise its 4.5+ alert.
This engine uses free API live data from USGS.GOV
youtu.be/HMYHz_76ROM
#data #sonification #composition #quake #earthquake #maxmsp
This engine uses free API live data from USGS.GOV
youtu.be/HMYHz_76ROM
#data #sonification #composition #quake #earthquake #maxmsp
Reposted by Witness Engines
"I define ‘solastalgia’ as the pain or distress caused by the ongoing loss of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one’s home and territory. It is the existential and lived experience of negative environmental change, manifest as an attack on one’s sense of place."
June 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
"I define ‘solastalgia’ as the pain or distress caused by the ongoing loss of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one’s home and territory. It is the existential and lived experience of negative environmental change, manifest as an attack on one’s sense of place."
Reposted by Witness Engines
Solastalgia - the pain & distress caused by the loss of one’s environment. Coined in 2007 by Glenn Albrecht. #WordOfTheDay
July 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Solastalgia - the pain & distress caused by the loss of one’s environment. Coined in 2007 by Glenn Albrecht. #WordOfTheDay
Tracing benthic invertebrate density in the Weddell Sea last November for Submersive Atmospheres. Funded by the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, AWI, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research & The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
July 12, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Tracing benthic invertebrate density in the Weddell Sea last November for Submersive Atmospheres. Funded by the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, AWI, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research & The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Very high levels of particulate matter in the air, with little wind and a lot of carbon monoxide all make for a very poor environment yesterday in Beijing.
July 12, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Very high levels of particulate matter in the air, with little wind and a lot of carbon monoxide all make for a very poor environment yesterday in Beijing.
Hello BSKY.
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble
July 12, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Hello BSKY.
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble
Witness Engines is a sound art and data composition project by Scottish composer @michaelbegg.studio, focusing on climate, earth observation, air inequality and environmental fragility.
New musical approaches to inform solastalgia.
An ensemble instrument within Black Glass Ensemble