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How a Shaking Stadium Is Helping Scientists Track Earthquakes

Posted by samzenpus on from the whole-lot-of-shaking-going-on dept.

vinces99 writes Researchers are installing three seismometers in Seattle's CenturyLink stadium to monitor shaking from Seahawks fans during Saturday's NFL playoff game. The new, faster data transmission will show crowd motion on the website before a touchdown shows up on the 10-second delayed TV broadcast. Researchers dub these "Early Earthquake Rowdiness Warnings." A guaranteed shaking and intense public interest gives the seismologists a unique opportunity to test new technology that gives seconds to minutes warning of a real earthquake.

25 comments

  1. Will it go on Twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just reminds me of... https://twitter.com/newlywedsontjob

  2. Mystery solved by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    No wonder they give ticket discounts to obese people.

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    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Seconds to minutes of warning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They do know earthquakes aren't on the same delay as the game's TV broadcasts, right?

    1. Re:Seconds to minutes of warning? by Sowelu · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The vibrations don't travel instantly through the surrounding geology, so if you know instantly when a quake happens at the epicenter, you can still give meaningful warning to people in outlying areas. Also (as a non-geologist), I suppose there's probably patterns that show up before the biggest part of the quake...if you start feeling what seems like a 3.0, but your phone can alarm with "This is going to get up to an 8.0 in twenty seconds", it could save your life.

    2. Re:Seconds to minutes of warning? by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      They do know earthquakes aren't on the same delay as the game's TV broadcasts, right?

      Depends on how far you are away from the epicentre. Earthquakes travel at approximately the speed of sound. I've had notification of an earthquake before I felt it before -- it's a somewhat spooky experience.

    3. Re:Seconds to minutes of warning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      P-waves are like large scale sound waves, and travel about (or a little slower) than speed of sound in the ground, which is several times faster than the speed of sound in air most people would think of. S-waves and a few other more esoteric ones travel slower, about half the speed, and can result in two easy distinquish parts of an earthquake if you are far enough from the epicenter.

    4. Re:Seconds to minutes of warning? by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 2

      Obligatory XKCD

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      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  4. The loudest football stadium by steveha · · Score: 2

    The Seahawks stadium is designed to be loud. It tends to focus noise rather than dissipate it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CenturyLink_Field#Home_field_advantage

    http://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-seahawks-stadium-loud-2014-1

    http://mynorthwest.com/25/702605/Why-NFLs-new-noise-rules-may-hurt-the-Seahawks

    I guess the fans like to do loud things like stomping as well. So this really is the right place for this sort of experiment.

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    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    1. Re:The loudest football stadium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      While the stadium may help, the visiting teams didn't like the Kingdome either. It's simply the fans, period. Take the Seattle fans and put them in another other stadium and they will make more noise than that stadium's typical fans.

      Not to mention that the Clink, Kingdome and Safeco Field are all built on top of was it essentially garbage, sawdust and other land fill...

    2. Re:The loudest football stadium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      136.6 dB = Opponents should start suing the Seahawks for causing permanent hearing loss.

    3. Re:The loudest football stadium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not the loudest football stadium. It's the loudest open air football stadium. Which your link says is because it's partly covered by a roof.

  5. inb4.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    carolina blows out the seahawks 31-3.

    1. Re: inb4.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In before the Cardinals are eliminated from the playoffs.

      Oh, wait.

  6. I have a bad feeling about this by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    The NFL will cite some kind of copyright infringement and kill the whole thing.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  7. Bertha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Though with Bertha tunneling its way nearby, I wonder if that would affect the readings.

    1. Re:Bertha by BigT · · Score: 1

      It could, but unfortunately, Bertha hasn't moved in over a year. They're working on a vertical shaft to access the cutting head for repairs. Pumping out water for that shaft has caused ground settling in the area. The whole thing's a giant mess the taxpayers will be on the hook for.

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      Is it weird in here, or is it just me?
    2. Re:Bertha by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      Pumping out water for that shaft has caused ground settling in the area.

      Pure speculation by the anti-tunnel folks. Water pumping has resumed.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  8. Great... by NonFerrousBueller · · Score: 2

    When they're done, send them down to New Zealand and tell us how to fix our stadium. Four years after the Christchurch earthquake, ours is an abandoned concrete tomb that looks fine but is apparently damaged beyond use. It was under-insured. The insurance companies will only pay out to repair it, other engineers say that's impossible.

    The second biggest problem with earthquakes is how to fix what nature has trashed. The biggest issue we have had has been global reinsurance companies "reinterpreting" their obligations.

    1. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live near CenturyLink and know nothing about construction but on behalf of Seattle I would personally visit New Zealand to inspect your stadium.

    2. Re:Great... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      The biggest issue we have had has been global reinsurance companies "reinterpreting" their obligations.

      Oldest trick in the book. A man's bonus depends on it.

      And it sounds like like somebody is trying to profit from the wreck. I'm sure the property owners have enough money to clean it up, and probably should be ordered to do so or lose the title.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re: Great... by NonFerrousBueller · · Score: 1

      Sadly, the property owner is the City Council, who is facing massive funding shortfalls due to having to repair huge amounts of infrastructure on top of repairing thousands of under-insured buildings.

      Basically, if you're a mucky-muck for a city, you need to have a close look at what's happened here to make sure it can't there.

    4. Re:Great... by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1

      The insurance companies will only pay out to repair it, other engineers say that's impossible.

      If the stadium owners thought insurance was the way to go, they were highly mistaken and this proves the point.

      Insurance is the biggest scam out there. It doesn't matter what the insurance policy says, insurance companies will do everything in their power not to pay out anything or at best, a token amount.

      Witness what happened when Katrina (a hurricane for those not in the know) hit Louisiana. The insurance companies tried to claim storm surge damage wasn't covered even though the houses were damaged by winds.

      Even worse, the people relied on their insurance agent who told them they didn't need flood insurance. Further, they lost their case.

      Pick any insurance you want and the same applies. You pay and pay and pay, then when you need coverage, you pay some more before the insurance companies hand over a pittance.

      Hopefully the stadium owner goes after the insurance company and forces them to do what they were paid to do. If not, get your money back for breach of contract.

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      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  9. Driving Frequency? by vortex2.71 · · Score: 1

    I've always been surprised by the Beast Quake phenomenon as I wouldn't imagine that fans screaming and stopping would occur at a frequency that resonates with the ground's natural frequency. If someone herw knows something about geology and earthquake harmonics, I'd be interested to hear a better explanation. Is it just that there is one rather large jouncing type event that is felt some distance away or is there a sustained resonance?

  10. Publicity Stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I work a block from Centurylink Field. A contractor is currently running a piledriver in the Centurylink parking lot for the construction of a new hotel and will be driving over 100 piles through mid-March. The piledriver shakes my office building; Monday night football does not. The pilediver vibrations would provide a more realistic representation of seisimic activity in the area, not to mention an abundance of samples. This is simply a chance for the University of Washington (with its huge Husky Football progam) to team up with pro football on a publicity stunt under the ruse of science.

    1. Re:Publicity Stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's precisely why they're studying the stadium rather than the pile driver. It requires more sensitivity in order to make the readings. Plus, it's unlikely that this source of study is going to go away before the construction on that building does.

      Not to mention that the stadium is a somewhat random occurence. We know that the fans can effect the equipment, but when they do it is somewhat unpredictable as is the extent to which they effect it. Seems like a decent thing to be studying.