Do the Northern Lights Make Sounds?

The aurora is too high for its sound to reach you

Visible auroras occur high in the atmosphere, often tens or hundreds of kilometres above the ground. Sound is a vibration moving through matter, and the near-vacuum of space cannot carry an audible sound wave down to Earth. So if a person hears a click while watching the northern lights, the sound cannot be the auroral light ‘making noise’ and travelling directly from that height.

What researchers have recorded

Aalto University researchers have reported recordings of short crackling or popping sounds and localized some sources close to the ground, around 70 metres high. One proposed mechanism involves electrical discharges in a shallow temperature-inversion layer during geomagnetically active conditions. [1]

This is a specific hypothesis supported by field observations and modelling, not a settled explanation for every historical report. The sounds can be faint and are easily confused with frost, insects, distant equipment or other environmental noise. [2]

A careful answer to a curious question

The best answer is ‘sometimes reported, with a plausible local mechanism under study’. It is not ‘the lights make sound waves that cross space’. Researchers still need more independent measurements linking a sound event, local atmospheric conditions and auroral activity.

For a recording to be useful, it helps to document the microphone, time, location and weather rather than rely on memory alone. That lets researchers test whether the sound coincides with an aurora or with an ordinary nearby source.