This BLOG captures our experience during the Ars Bioarctica residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, where we (Frouke Wiarda and Judith van der Elst) delve into the fascinating dynamics of the atmosphere. Though we come from different professional backgrounds, Frouke as a sound artist and Judith as an anthropologist, we are united by our shared passion for atmospheric patterns and the winds that shape them. We approach the atmosphere not just as a habitat for organisms, but as a complex ecosystem of interwoven elements. Our focus is on the ephemeral processes and objects within it—like the clouds that form, move by wind, reform, and dissolve. These objects are fleeting in our human sense of time, yet they carry a deeper meaning when viewed through different lenses. While we observe the clouds visually, we have also come prepared to engage with our surroundings through sound. By recording the subtle sounds of the land, we aim to hear the Earth speak at the interfaces of different scales and orientations. This multi-sensory approach allows us to engage with the environment in a way that is both spatial and temporal, creating a semiotic mashup that tells the story of our temporary place in this vast and dynamic world.
Watching the sky from the level surfaces of the Wadden region where we depart, the dynamics are hard to miss. Clouds form, reform, at different levels al within a time span that we call ephemeral. Ephemerality is a concept we defined for things being transitory, existing only very briefly and can describe a diverse assortment of things and experiences, from digital media to other kind of streams. We know the atmosphere plays an important role in transporting moisture, we watch the weather forecast to prepare ourselves for windy and rainy events. Since COVID we have also become aware the air can transport viruses and other organisms, not visible to us. The atmosphere as a conduit, shuffling goods to and from, between other spheres that are more permanent, that are easier to grasp in our minds.
MAY 6: THE LAKE IS STILL FROZEN AND COVERED IN SNOW WHEN WE ARRIVE IN KILPISJARVI. It is unexpected to be welcomed by so much snow. The welcome at the station is warm and tranquil, we are happy to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. It is low season. The air outside is crisp and still. Kiekula being our designated home for the coming two weeks, offers prime views of the lake and anticipated changing patterns.
WE ARE HERE TO EXPERIENCE, STUDY, SENSE, RECORD SOUNDS OF THE SURROUNDING, OF THE CHANGING WINDS. THE PERCEIVED ABSENCE OF SOUNDS IS SURPRISING, BUT NOT UNPLEASANT, IT SHARPENS OUR ATTENTION.
Recently, scientist have begun to think differently about the atmosphere. One of these differences is that more than just a conduit, the atmosphere may be its own ecosystem. For it to be classified as such, organisms that dwell in the atmospheric habitat must do so long enough to reproduce, in other words, they live there, it is not a travel time. But exactly how long does that take? And what does a typical habitat or territory look like for the average atmospheric inhabitant?
To conceptualize this vast ephemeral space as a place where creatures live and die, create homes, builds nests have offspring, connect to the larger species, such as insects, birds, with whom they co-habit is some form or another symbiotically, we need to change speed and scale. GOING SLO-MO, AND SOMETIMES SPEED UP, PROBING THE INTERFACES, THE ECOTONES, AND EVEN BLOBOTONES, THINGS WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DEFINE.
Collecting data
The work we planned and envisioned is part of a larger investigative effort to reconsider the role of the atmosphere, the winds, the clouds and to think of this sphere not merely as a conduit, but more as its own ecosystem that touches all other spheres. As such we wish to expand into the verticality and spatio-temporal dynamics that we will believe has much to tell us when we start to listen at different scales and resolutions, and especially at the multiple interfaces and phase changes.
GATHERING DATA FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES TO ENRICH OUR OWN RECORDING WITH THE AIM TO CREATE MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS TO ENGAGE WITH THIS PART OF OUR WORLD THAT SO OFTEN PASSES US BY.
Our interest is peaked when we learn about a new research project at the station that investigates near surface particle fluxes of greenhouse gasses. The vertical movement and tension between upward and downward motion is part of the kind of dynamics we wish to better understand. The local atmospheric circulation that connects with the other velocities of Earth’s masses, including the ones that flow through us.
We are aware of the global patterns, research that informs us that in the Arctic region the rate of climate change happens twice as fast as elsewhere on the planet and it being a sink for polluting air that originates at distant locations.
On our first day, we join Anu, who needs to collect some data from the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site that is managed by the station, she tells us that the air around Kilpisjarvi is in fact relatively clean. The new research project that investigates carbon greenhouse flux, uptake of carbon by plants and emission by microbes, is driven by the need to understand the warming up of the tundra. The Arctic is at risk to losing its vast organic carbon reservoir, and this research fills an urgent need to understand how this process unfolds. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to visit the field site, due to changing snow conditions, but we hope to learn more in our follow-up.
We do our best to attune ourselves to the white world dynamics, which at this time of transition from winter to summer challenges us to move through, to focus on what we think are relevant patterns to capture. We come with some preconceived ideas. As always, the surrounding world turns out to be much more complex and doesn’t reveal its intricacies that easily. We tune in more, seriously, but also with excitement, enjoyment and care, for our surroundings, for each other. We have much to learn, we are not the only ones.
“Wind”, as is mentioned in reference to novel ways of measuring this phenomenon, “brings everything in the atmosphere together, including clouds, aerosols, water vapor, precipitation and radiation…But it has remained somewhat elusive.” The study by researchers from the University of Arizona, provides for the first time, data on the vertical distribution of horizontal winds by combining data from different perspectives, instruments, models and a novel algorithm to analyze these. We are curious how al these novel insights can enrich our own explorations.
TAKING IN THE BEAUTY OF SAANA, THE SHADOW OF CLOUDS MOVING ACROSS ITS SLOPE, OR IS IT MAYBE SNOW SHEETS SHIFTING DOWN IN THIS TRANSITION FROM WINTER TO SUMMER?
PROBING INTERFACES, PLACING OUR SOUND SENSORS AT STRATEGIC LOCATIONS
We (Frouke and Judith) have worked together for a while, coming from different professional backgrounds, we are bound by our passion for atmospheric dynamics. With the idea of atmosphere as ecosystem we not only wish to define it as simply a habitat for organisms, but the beauty of what that habitat entails, the other elements, such as the CLOUDS THAT FORM, MOVE BY WIND, REFORM, DISSOLVE. Objects and processes made up of different materials, ephemeral in our human sense of time, but in another one, these processes and OBJECTS TAKE ON A DIFFERENT MEANING. We observe the clouds visually, as they can tell us something about the complex world above us. But we came especially prepared to record sounds, TO HEAR THE LAND SPEAK AT THE INTERFACES AT DIFFERENT SCALES AND ORIENTATIONS. TO ENGAGE WITH OUR TEMPORARY SURROUNDINGS IN A MULTISENSORIAL WAY, AS A SPATIOTEMPORAL SEMIOTIC MASHUP.
Special thanks to
Leena Valkeapää, mentor at the Ars Bioartica Residency program
Hannu Autto, Service Coordinator, Kilpisjärvi Biological Station (University of Helsinki)
Anu Ruohomäki, Research Coordinator Kilpisjärvi Biological Station (University of Helsinki)
The Ars Bioarctica residency program
SOLU / Bioart Society
Credits
https://news.arizona.edu/news/scientists-develop-new-way-measure-wind