Singing sands are generated when the desert wind pulls the very best layer of sand off layer below. It's believed that the noise is generated by electrostatic charge this action creates. On atiny low scale, sort of a beach, this phenomenon creates a high-pitched sound, but on the way larger scale, it'll emit a low-pitched rumble or booming sound, and at up to 100 and 5 decibels, it are typically quite loud.
Despite singing sands and booming dunes being a feature shared by some 35 deserts and beaches around the world, the mechanism that produces the sound remains not totally understood.
A booming sand dune manifests itself by initiating an avalanche from the leeward face of an outsized dune. The following low-frequency booming noise or music is loud and resembles a low-flying propeller airplane. The sound is surprisingly monotone with one dominant audible frequency. The sound is sustained and can continue for up to a second once initiation, even in spite of everything visible motion has ceased. Moving a hand through the dry sand of a booming dune shears the upper layer and generates another acoustic phenomenon, the burping emission - pulse-like, short bursts of sound.
Booming dunes are silent among the wintertime when moisture from precipitation is retained among the dune. The burping property depends on sand grain characteristics and will be generated all year around. Among the summer time when the larger dunes manufacture their music, the smaller dunes among the dune field keep silent. This implies that structural properties of the dune are crucial for the generation of the singing sand. Also, booming can solely be generated at slopes at the angle of repose (30 degrees) on the leeward face of dune, constant sand on the shallower windward facet cannot generate the music.
