During a total solar eclipse,
it is almost like day becomes night very quickly.
So, knowing that there's going to be a change in
that light and life-giving energy, means that we can predict
when animals are going to have a rapid shift in their behavior.
Which results in changes in the acoustic environment or the soundscape.
So, the Eclipse Soundscapes project is a project
to determine how eclipses affect life here on Earth.
And there's a lot more to observation than just what you see.
It's also important to think about what you hear.
We're measuring how the rapid onset of darkness during an eclipse
affects wildlife by measuring the changes in sounds that they make.
The general public is best suited
for this type of project because the general public is everywhere.
And that's really the power of the participatory science component
of this project.
It enables recordings and observations of soundscapes
across the diversity of ecosystems covered by the path of totality.
We might think of some ecosystems having a greater influence
of human activities on the soundscape, whereas in other ecosystems, say,
a remote part of a national park, we might have a lower influence
of human activities and greater influence from the sounds of life and Earth.
The only way to properly preserve a species is to understand it.
The only way to understand it is through scientific study
on their behavior, their patterns, and their habitat requirements.
One of the things we'll be doing during the total
solar eclipse is setting up these recording stations.
So, these are our acoustic monitoring stations,
and what we're doing is listening for calls of the different bat species
with the hopes of maybe picking up some of those endangered species
like the northern long-eared bat.
We're hoping the results of this study will inform us
about the health of our bat populations of Hot Springs National Park
and help improve future conservation efforts.
The Eclipse Soundscapes project is an inclusive
and accessible project that is inviting the general public to get involved
in NASA science alongside scientists and subject matter experts.
Wherever you take your observations, you might be giving us information
that has never been recorded before, and that is really useful and interesting
to a scientist.