One of Cornwall's most extreme storms turned into sea shanty to highlight climate crisis
The University of Plymouth has released the piece to coincide with COP26
A sea shanty and data from one of the most extreme storms to hit Cornwall and Devon have collided in a project demonstrating the impacts of the climate crisis.
Researchers from the University of Plymouth have taken data captured during 2014, when huge waves shifted rocks the size of boulders onto Penzance Prom and washed away part of the main rail line at Dawlish, and transformed it into a musical piece.
'Song of the Sea' has been released to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow.
It takes a popular sea shanty, 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor?', and manipulates it using actual data captured by the Southwest Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.
The result is a piece that listeners will initially recognise, but which then changes as the data reflect the stronger winds and higher waves generated as the storm reached its destructive peak.
The project is the result of a collaboration between the University of Plymouth’s Marine Institute and its Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR).
Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS, Director of the Marine Institute, said: "This project highlights our connection to nature and the very serious issues occurring as a result of climate change.
"It provides a snapshot of the devastation and destruction extreme storms can cause, but also shows how our relationship with the planet has become more distorted".
Professor Thompson continued: "As things stand, humanity is not dissimilar to the drunken sailor - intoxicated by its thirst for things, and unwilling to address the reckless plundering and destruction that results.
"Will we come to our senses in time? That has to be the challenge for the COP26 delegates in Glasgow".
The song is centred on data gathered over a 48-hour period in February 2014, which resulted in the main rail line being washed away at Dawlish in south Devon.
Those two days were part of a series of storms that wreaked havoc along the Atlantic coasts of western Europe, with research by the University subsequently demonstrating them to have been the most energetic storms to hit western Europe.
The project builds on the University’s lengthy track record of combining science, the arts and other disciplines to enhance public awareness and appreciation of potentially complex areas of climate research.
More information about the project can be found on the University of Plymouth's website.