Most seismologist see earthquakes regularly on screen. We look at the wiggles and try to process them so that we can find useful information about the Earth’s structure. But did you ever listen to earthquakes? Here are just some links to pages where you can dive into the earthquake sounds: Listening to earthquakes on USGS On soundcloud Earthquake music Seismic Sound Lab of the Lamont-Doherty ...[Read More]
First Earthquakes, past and future
USGS "Did you feel it?" questionnaire at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/dyfi/
What was your first experience of an earthquake? Was it scary? Weird? Confusing? The first earthquake I have consciously noticed was a magnitude 4.something on a small fault zone not far from my home town. The wave that shook our terraced house felt like a short burst of pressure, making me briefly worry, but then laugh as it prompted my mother to shout “Stop jumping off the wardrobe!” ...[Read More]
MyShake – your phone as a seismic station
Are you on Facebook or Twitter? Do you use Whatsapp regularly to communicate with friends and loved ones scattered across the globe or even just across the city? I’d be surprised if you answer ‘no’ to all of these questions. In fact, why not admit that you are just as addicted to that smartphone of yours as I am to mine? Being a seismologist, you might have played with one of the ...[Read More]
A tale about MERMAIDs
Once upon a time there was a little mermaid, with the upper body of a human and a tail of a fish, happily diving within the seven seas. Wait … I’m sorry, that is the wrong story. I will tell you today something about a different generation of MERMAIDs, that are pretty useful for seismologists. It is a very exciting story indeed. Over the last decades seismic station coverage dra ...[Read More]