A Taylor Swift concert in downtown Seattle on July 22nd and 23rd shook the ground so hard that it registered signals on a nearby seismometer approximately equivalent to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, seismologists said.
“It’s certainly the biggest concert we’ve had in a while,” said Mouse Reusch, a seismologist at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. At this institution, they monitor seismic activity in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re talking about 70,000 people and all the music and paraphernalia associated with the concert.”
The appropriately named “Swift Quake” recorded a maximum ground acceleration of roughly 0.011 meters per second squared, said Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist at Western Washington University.
Seismologists use acceleration to measure ground vibrations, which are then converted to the more conventional Richter scale, the common measurement for earthquakes. Of course, seismometers can pick up all sorts of vibrations, including cars, trains, and other things, but their vibrations are all small compared to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and millions of people cheering and stomping at the same time.
A similar earthquake happened when the Seattle Seahawks fans roared in celebration after a last-minute touchdown by Marshawn Lynch, the running back whose nickname is “Beast Mode.”
The two back-to-back Taylor Swift concerts in Seattle logged a very similar pattern on the seismometer, said Reusch of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which probably means that the sets were nearly identical as well.
“That was surprising to me, that we’re able to see something so coherent,” she said. “One was offset by about 26 minutes because it was late.”
The shaking at both shows reached a peak twice, once around 8:30 p.m. and again around 10:30 p.m., according to data shared with The New York Times.
While the concerts shook the ground exceptionally hard, harder than the Beast Quake by 0.3 magnitude, Caplan-Auerbach said, it is important to understand that seismometers pick up signals from “anything that shakes the ground.”
Good job, Seattle! You broke your own record.
“It’s certainly the biggest concert we’ve had in a while,” said Mouse Reusch, a seismologist at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. At this institution, they monitor seismic activity in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re talking about 70,000 people and all the music and paraphernalia associated with the concert.”
The appropriately named “Swift Quake” recorded a maximum ground acceleration of roughly 0.011 meters per second squared, said Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist at Western Washington University.
Seismologists use acceleration to measure ground vibrations, which are then converted to the more conventional Richter scale, the common measurement for earthquakes. Of course, seismometers can pick up all sorts of vibrations, including cars, trains, and other things, but their vibrations are all small compared to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and millions of people cheering and stomping at the same time.
A similar earthquake happened when the Seattle Seahawks fans roared in celebration after a last-minute touchdown by Marshawn Lynch, the running back whose nickname is “Beast Mode.”
The two back-to-back Taylor Swift concerts in Seattle logged a very similar pattern on the seismometer, said Reusch of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which probably means that the sets were nearly identical as well.
“That was surprising to me, that we’re able to see something so coherent,” she said. “One was offset by about 26 minutes because it was late.”
The shaking at both shows reached a peak twice, once around 8:30 p.m. and again around 10:30 p.m., according to data shared with The New York Times.
While the concerts shook the ground exceptionally hard, harder than the Beast Quake by 0.3 magnitude, Caplan-Auerbach said, it is important to understand that seismometers pick up signals from “anything that shakes the ground.”
Good job, Seattle! You broke your own record.
