Tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans cheered as the pop star sang, “I shake it off, I shake it off.”
Two weekends ago, Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour, a 52-date tour of her performing songs from her 10 albums, to downtown Seattle. The concert created ground vibrations so big that a nearby seismometer registered it as a magnitude 2.3 earthquake.
“It’s certainly the biggest concert we’ve had in a while,” said Mouse Reusch, a seismologist that monitors earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re talking about 70,000 people and all the music and paraphernalia associated with the concert.”
Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist at Western Washington University said that the “Swift Quake,” as it was called, recorded a maximum ground acceleration of roughly 0.011 meters per second.
Seismologists measure ground vibrations by using acceleration, which can then be converted into the widely-known Richter scale.
Compared to the “Swift Quake,” the “Beast Quake” in 2011 was nothing. The “Beast Quake” occurred when the running back for the Seattle Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch or “Beast Mode,” made a last-minute touchdown.
According to Reusch of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, the “Beast Quake” made ground vibrations that were close to a magnitude 2.0 earthquake. The same seismic station, located outside of Lumen Field, also recorded the “Swift Quake.”
But while there was only a 0.3 magnitude difference, the Richter scale’s logarithmic system makes the magnitude 2.3 “earthquake” twice as large as the football game in 2011.
Seismologists say that the most likely cause of the “Swift Quake” was the music coming from the sound system combined with Taylor Swift’s fans, otherwise known as Swifties, dancing to it.
While the concerts shook the ground exceptionally hard, Caplan-Auerbach said, it is important to understand that seismometers pick up signals from “anything that shakes the ground,” including cars, trains and even wind.
Link to Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/arts/music/taylor-swift-earthquake-seattle-.html
Two weekends ago, Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour, a 52-date tour of her performing songs from her 10 albums, to downtown Seattle. The concert created ground vibrations so big that a nearby seismometer registered it as a magnitude 2.3 earthquake.
“It’s certainly the biggest concert we’ve had in a while,” said Mouse Reusch, a seismologist that monitors earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re talking about 70,000 people and all the music and paraphernalia associated with the concert.”
Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist at Western Washington University said that the “Swift Quake,” as it was called, recorded a maximum ground acceleration of roughly 0.011 meters per second.
Seismologists measure ground vibrations by using acceleration, which can then be converted into the widely-known Richter scale.
Compared to the “Swift Quake,” the “Beast Quake” in 2011 was nothing. The “Beast Quake” occurred when the running back for the Seattle Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch or “Beast Mode,” made a last-minute touchdown.
According to Reusch of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, the “Beast Quake” made ground vibrations that were close to a magnitude 2.0 earthquake. The same seismic station, located outside of Lumen Field, also recorded the “Swift Quake.”
But while there was only a 0.3 magnitude difference, the Richter scale’s logarithmic system makes the magnitude 2.3 “earthquake” twice as large as the football game in 2011.
Seismologists say that the most likely cause of the “Swift Quake” was the music coming from the sound system combined with Taylor Swift’s fans, otherwise known as Swifties, dancing to it.
While the concerts shook the ground exceptionally hard, Caplan-Auerbach said, it is important to understand that seismometers pick up signals from “anything that shakes the ground,” including cars, trains and even wind.
Link to Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/arts/music/taylor-swift-earthquake-seattle-.html