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Oceanic Sounds of Last Year's Earthquake

Posted by Zonk on from the science-on-a-massive-scale dept.

DoctorBit writes "Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is reporting that some of their researchers have analyzed recordings of the underwater sound produced by last year's magnitude 9.3 Sumatra earthquake. By studying the ocean's sound waves rather than the Earth's seismic waves, the researchers measured the earthquake's speed and duration with unprecedented accuracy."

1 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Not really surprising by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not really surprising at all. A lightning bolt makes a distinct short crack if you are close to it, which becomes the sustained rumble of thunder if you are much distance away. In fact, the length of the rumble increases as the distance between you and the lightning bolt increases. It's due to the reflection of the sound off other objects spreading the sound out. The same phenomenon should happen with the sound of an earthquake as it travels through the earth's crust should it not? Because the sound was recorded some distance away, it should not equal the same length of time the "earth's crust was ripping" anymore than the sound of thunder some distance away from a thunderstorm is a record of the duration of the earth's atmosphere ripping from a lightning strike.