SON is a browser-based sonification environment for representing coronal mass ejection (CME) and geomagnetic storm events as synchronized sound, visual state, and derived physical metrics.
The repository is intentionally minimal: the full application is distributed as a single HTML document (SON.html) containing the interface, event catalog, sonification engine, visualization logic, and in-browser WAV export pipeline. The project is designed as a compact research, exhibition, and educational artifact rather than a large framework-dependent software stack.
- Abstract
- Research Framing
- Core Capabilities
- Repository Structure
- Quick Start
- Usage Workflow
- Technology Stack
- Scientific and Sonification Model
- Event Catalog
- WAV Export
- Implementation Notes
- Limitations
- Roadmap
- License
- Contact
SON formalizes a browser-native approach to scientific sonification of extreme solar and geomagnetic events. Instead of assigning arbitrary sounds to arbitrary values, the system converts curated CME and storm parameters into a layered audio structure informed by physically meaningful quantities such as coupling strength, dynamic pressure, magnetic orientation, magnetopause geometry, and storm indices.
The resulting application serves three roles simultaneously:
- a research demonstrator for interpretable data-to-sound mapping,
- a science communication instrument for public-facing presentation of heliophysics,
- and a creative computational object for performance, installation, or exhibition contexts.
Space-weather events are usually communicated numerically, visually, or through textual forecasting products. SON explores a complementary question:
How can solar-wind and geomagnetic event structure be translated into audiovisual instrument while preserving interpretability, parameter traceability, and physically grounded control relationships?
The project therefore emphasizes:
- parameter transparency rather than opaque generative behavior,
- derived physical estimates rather than purely decorative mappings,
- interactive inspection alongside listening,
- and lightweight deployment suitable for classrooms, workshops, galleries, and GitHub-based distribution.
- Curated event browser for historically significant and recent CME / geomagnetic storm cases
- Real-time sonification built with the Web Audio API
- Dual listening modes for scientific and album-style presentation
- Derived heliophysical and magnetospheric estimates computed directly in the client
- High-DPI Canvas 2D visualization synchronized with event state
- On-page metric inspector for inputs, estimates, and mapping relationships
- In-browser 30-second stereo WAV export using
OfflineAudioContext - Portable, no-build architecture suitable for direct browser execution
- Open
SON.html. - Choose a CME / geomagnetic storm event from the event panel.
- Inspect the displayed physical inputs and derived estimates.
- Start audio playback in the selected listening mode.
- Observe how event parameters affect both visual and auditory structure.
- Export a rendered 30-second WAV for archival, analysis, or DAW-based reuse.
- HTML5 packaging
- React 18
- ReactDOM 18
- Babel Standalone for in-browser JSX transpilation
- Web Audio API for synthesis and real-time playback
- OfflineAudioContext for file rendering
- Canvas 2D for visualization
- Vanilla JavaScript for event definitions, calculation logic, parameter mapping, and rendering control
- CDN-loaded dependencies for frictionless distribution
The application accepts event-level inputs such as:
- solar-wind speed
v - proton density
n - magnetic-field magnitude
B - southward magnetic component
Bz - geomagnetic indices
KpandDst - X-ray intensity
- event duration
From these, SON computes or estimates multiple physically motivated quantities, including:
- solar-wind dynamic pressure
- IMF clock angle
- Newell coupling function
- Kan–Lee reconnection electric field
- Alfvén speed and related characteristic speeds
- magnetopause stand-off distance
- bow-shock distance
- plasmapause-related estimates
- storm-time Dst approximation
- characteristic low-frequency and wave-process terms such as Pc1 / Pc5-style and Kelvin–Helmholtz-related estimates
The system is not a literal simulation of the magnetosphere. It is a scientifically informed interpretive sonification engine. Derived values are used as control signals for synthesis layers such as:
- low-frequency storm drone / ring-current style layers
- harmonic overtone structure
- noise texture and filtered turbulence bands
- modulation depth and rate
- waveshaping / distortion intensity
- master amplitude motion and envelope behavior
SON aims to preserve a meaningful relationship between domain variables and auditory change, so that sonic variation remains explainable rather than arbitrary.
The application includes a curated set of notable events ranging from modern space-weather cases to historically significant storms, including examples such as:
- the May 2024 G5 storm
- the October 2024 G5 storm
- the March 2024 severe storm sequence
- the 2023 and 2017 major flare / storm intervals
- the 2012 near-miss superstorm
- the 2003 Halloween storms
- the 1989 Hydro-Québec blackout storm
- the 1859 Carrington Event
The repository uses a curated event set, not a live API feed. This makes the application stable, portable, and reproducible for demonstration and interpretation.
SON includes browser-side audio rendering and file export.
- stereo output
- 16-bit PCM WAV encoding
- 30-second offline render
- generated in-browser without server-side processing
- comparative listening studies
- archival examples for teaching
- integration with DAWs and sound-design workflows
- exhibition playback assets
The project deliberately prioritizes:
- ease of sharing,
- ease of inspection,
- zero-install presentation,
- and compatibility with lightweight hosting environments.
React is used for interface composition, while Babel Standalone enables direct browser execution. This choice keeps the repository easy to read and run at the cost of conventional production bundling.
SON is best understood as:
- a research prototype,
- a communication instrument,
- and an exhibition-ready software artifact.
It is not intended as an operational forecasting tool or validated scientific analysis platform.
- The repository is distributed as a single HTML file, so code is not modularized into multiple source files.
- External libraries are loaded from CDNs rather than bundled locally.
- Event values are curated and simplified for interpretability and presentation.
- Some computed relationships are approximate and intended for explanatory sonification rather than rigorous predictive modeling.
- The application operates on event-level parameter sets rather than full continuous time-series ingestion.
Potential future directions include:
- integration of live NOAA / NASA / mission-derived feeds
- time-series playback rather than event snapshots
- reproducible experiment presets and logging
- side-by-side mapping comparison modes
- modular separation of UI, physics, and synthesis code
- formal testing of derived-quantity functions
- GitHub Pages-oriented packaging using
index.html
See the LICENSE file for the full terms.
For licensing, permissions, collaboration, exhibition use, or other repository-related inquiries, contact the repository owner.