a recent discussion on “Where to spend a really quiet vacation?” sparked a question that seems very hard to answer - besides “fun”-answers - and I could not find any scientific data on it:
Where is the (on average, over time) most quiet place on the surface of planet earth?
(“Surface” ruling out indoor environments, caves, orbitals or similar places.)
This place would probably have to be
without splashing water (rain, rivers, sea)
without strong winds or things that make sounds when exposed to wind
without animals that make noises (birds, insects etc.)
far from humans making noise
without glaciers, volcanos or other noise sources
Do you have an answer to this, or at least a pointer to
some empirical measurements?
(BTW: When you search the Web for this questions, you find a lot of answers - but none of them seems even remotely based on evidence or at least a plausible reasoning…)
I’ve been told that balloon rides are eerily quite due to the fact that you are traveling with the wind, so it makes no sound. Haven’t been in one so not sure if this is true but it makes sense. So a balloon ride over the ocean should be deafeningly quite. Or if you have to stay on a surface, how about a sailboat in the middle of the ocean on a dead calm day.
Balloons are real quiet. Except for when the pilot fires the burners. Those are very loud. And they get used every couple of minutes.
The Antarctic dry valleys are famous for very high winds that blow for weeks at a time. Not quiet at all.
OP: Once you get away from humanity, wind is your noisiest thing. The problem is wind blows darn near everywhere. In a lot of open desolate plains it blows darn near non-stop.
I’d guess Northeastern Siberia, as long as you’re not near the coast. This map shows that areas of it have very low average winds, and it likely has less humans and wildlife than areas that are similarly low:
If it’s agreed that “wind” is the most important natural noise factor, then maybe some deep canyon in a desert or similar could be especially quiet, as it is mostly protected from wind?
Yeah, if there were high winds that would be problem. Perhaps there are areas without winds. If the winds prevail in a certain direction maybe you can get in a dead zone on the backside of one of the mountains?
Is underground out of limits?
Because I have been in some high limestone caves that were amazingly quiet (and dark).
By high limestone, I mean that the cave was eroded out during an ancient period when the water level was considerably higher.
That obviates the ‘drip-drip-drip’ of actively eroding limestone caves.
I was thinking that, but I couldn’t resist mentioning them because they’re so interesting.
Also… does wind make noise when there’s nothing to obstruct it? For example, if it’s blowing over a sheer sheet of ice? If not, then it would sound windy if you were there, but it would be silent if you weren’t.
If the flow is truly laminar, you can make a decent case that it doesn’t. But rapid airflow across the surface of the earth almost never is, so - from the point of view of physics - windy places are reliably noisy.
But that depends on how fast the wind is and what the obstructions are. I can’t give specifics but I seem to recall being in some fairly windy places where the wind wasn’t making noise (except for our big flappy tent). So, I think some places you can have winds, just not HIGH winds and be ok.
The quietest place I’ve ever been is herein Point Reyes National Seashore.
Driving through the entire park with the top down was eerie and beautiful.
We stopped in a meadow, surrounded by flowers for acres, and turned off the car.
No birds, no waves, no cars - nothing. Like being in a cave with headphones on.
Just head for the lighthouse & you’ll see!
It also has the added advantage of not being Antarctica!
