Fundamental Resonance is a broadcast series that posits a new approach to the audition of acoustic, mechanical, and electromagnetic vibrations. Each episode combines an audio essay with a soundscape, composed of examples of the phenomena discussed, as a way to explore the unreachable, reveal the hidden, and manifest what lies beyond the senses.
Fundamental Resonance is produced by Sam Rowell and will be broadcast on Lookout FM. Broadcasts can be heard online at Lookout FM and on terrestrial radio on KFQM-LP 101.5 FM Pacific Palisades. A podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Episodes will be released weekly from September 15 - November 3.
Sunday, Sep 29: Deep Listening: Submarine Surveillance, the SOFAR channel, and the Sanctuary Sound Program
This program explores the transformation of a secret military surveillance network into a crucial scientific tool for ocean exploration, and an anomalous feature of a certain part of the ocean that started it all. During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy developed the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), using underwater hydrophones to detect Soviet submarines by listening to the ocean. This technology, originally designed for surveillance, has since been repurposed for scientific research.
The hydrophones that once monitored the oceans for Soviet submarine activity now form the keystone of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sanctuary Soundscape Monitoring Project (SanctSound) and are vital tools for understanding marine life, monitoring earthquake and volcano activity, and enforcing nuclear test bans.