Wind blowing across Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf is vibrating the massive ice slabs, creating a humming sound that scientists say could be an early warning sign of the effects of climate change.
Research published by the American Geophysical Union states the eerie low-frequency sound is caused by wind striking snow dunes causing the outer snow layers to vibrate.
Scientists buried 34 sensitive seismic sensors under the snow's surface in 2014 to better understand the ice shelves physical properties.
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Initially, days or months passed in between each hum, some 'notes' were so low they couldn't be heard by the human ear, Lead author, geophysicist and mathematician Julien Chaput told The Washington Post.
Then researchers noticed a strange pattern beginning to appear, as the snow which acts as a fur coat over the ice was constantly vibrating creating the eerie sound.
The discovery was "a complete accident," No-one expected the ice to 'sing', Mr Chaput says.
The Ross Ice Shelf is Antarctica's largest ice shelf, with an area of 500,809 square kilometres.
Ice shelves are several hundred metres thick and blanketed in thick snow, up to several metres deep, which are topped with snow dunes - similar to sand dunes in the desert.
The snowy layer acts as a coat, protecting the ice beneath it from the sun and melting as temperatures rise.
Changes in the humming, such as it slowing down, indicate the snow in the ice shelf's top layers is melting.
Scientists believe by studying the vibration they can better understand how the ice shelf is responding to climate change.
The seismic sound could act as an early warning sign of a nightmare scenario in Antarctica that would see the disintegration of the continent's largest ice shelf, and as a consequence could result in the glaciers sliding into the ocean.
In 2002, the Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed, scientists fear that if the Ross Ice Shelf did the same, the interior glaciers would be free to flow into the ocean, marking the beginning of the end of the frozen continent.
Mr Chaput believes the changing hum signifies the Ross Ice Shelf has lost its original structure and its new 'voice' is now that of a wounded ice shelf singing its troubles long before humans can see the damage.
He's not sure if it has been permanently damaged but says the Larsen B Ice Shelf must have been long before it broke apart.
Newshub.
