Ocean Demonstration

Glacier Moving

Recorded performances of Glacier Moving

We found a recording of a glacier moving, recorded from inside the glacier itself. You can hear it like this: position yourself in front of a table and gently lift up one side, the smallest amount you can. There’s only a tiny gap between the table leg and the floor. Then start to pull the table towards you as slowly as possible, extremely slow, sometimes side to side too.

A glacier might move at around 1 cm per minute. Within the sound of the legs rubbing against the floor, you might be able to hear a low rumble – the friction of the ice moving against stone, occasional thuds of blocks of ice hitting against each other and the occasional note singing out, ice scraping against ice.