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How a Shaking Stadium Is Helping Scientists Track Earthquakes
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.
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.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
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.
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.
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.
Obligatory XKCD
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.