The current environmental crisis is due at least in part to a lack of effective science communication. Traditional methods of disseminating findings are important for continued progress but can be inaccessible to the public and rarely communicate the important emotional and cultural dimensions of environmental issues. Mitigation of the effects of climate change will not occur if a majority of people cannot understand the problem or do understand but fail to change their behaviors. There has been significant communications research into these issues—findings have suggested that communication techniques that can create a narrative, engage emotion, make the abstract more understandable, and use value frames to connect to an audience and encourage empathy will be most effective in encouraging behavioral change. The arts are capable of communicating in this fashion; sounding art in particular has a long history of engaging with politicized and emotional issues in ways that can ultimately provoke large-scale shifts in social convention. The arts and sciences each provide important responses to environmental problems. When used together, however, they have serious potential to create change. Data sonification, or the translation of data into sound, combines climate science and ecological art into a potentially powerful form of environmental activism. This thesis research examines the technique’s blend of art and science and its potential as effective environmentalist art through an exploration of three case studies: Lauren Oakes and Nik Sawe’s 2016 sonification of climate change impacts on Alaskan forests, Andrea Polli’s 2004 online sonification project Heat and the Heartbeat of the City, and the 2012 telematic multimedia opera Auksalaq by Matthew Burtner and Scott Deal. Data sonifications defy classification as either solely artistic or scientific—this disciplinary ambiguity can create tension—but it is exactly this disciplinary ambiguity that makes them useful as environmentalist tools. Sonifications appeal to emotions and logic and require creativity and evidence, powerful persuasive combinations in the face of environmental issues. They require scientists to consider the aesthetics behind the art, and composers to understand the science behind the data; in forcing us to acknowledge the importance of the other disciplinary perspective, they help us to question some of our disciplinary boundaries and effectively serve as a model for the interdisciplinary collaboration that is increasingly necessary as we navigate our changing world. / A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music. / Spring Semester 2019. / March 29, 2019. / Climate Change, Data Sonification, Ecological Art, Environmental Sustainability, Interdisciplinary Art, Science Communication / Includes bibliographical references. / Denise Von Glahn, Professor Directing Thesis; Sarah Eyerly, Committee Member; Michael Broyles, Committee Member; Jeffrey Chagnon, Committee Member.

Meteorological aspects of geothermal energy development are first discussed in general terms. An instructive case study is then presented of a hypothetical 100 MW geothermal electrical generating plant at a site near Vale, Oregon. Long-term climate data from Ontario Airport near Ontario, Oregon, are used to describe meteorological characteristics of the Vale site and the effects of topography are discussed. Source data were taken from descriptions of similar plants. A simple Gaussian plume model is applied to the data to estimate typical visible plume lengths at different times of day and year, and fog inducement in terms of extra hours per year. A ballistic-type drift deposition model is used to analyze the impacts of cooling tower drift in terms of drift "rain" intensity and annual moisture deposition. Assumptions and approximations, made with the intention of presenting upper limits to predicted effects, are discussed. Comments and suggestions concerning the extension of the results to contaminant emissions and additional data that would be needed to perform a more detailed and conclusive study are included. / Graduation date: 1980

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Laurence S. Kalkstein, Dept. of Geography. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-173).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed February 25, 2010). PDF text: xii, 113 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 3 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3386574. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.S.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2009. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. Thesis advisor: Richard C. Ready.

Thesis (Honors)--University of South Florida, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-42).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-90). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.) in Quaternary and Climate Studies--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-160).

published_or_final_version / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science