Geophysicists Install Earthquake Monitors Beneath CenturyLink Field for Seahawks-Panthers Game
Posted on January 10, 2015
Geophysicists have installed three earthquake monitors beneath CenturyLink Field for tonight's Seahawks and Panthers NFL playoff game. The sensors will monitor the seismic effects of the 67,000-strong crowd at the stadium.
The New York Times reports that in 2011 a seismic monitor located one block from the stadium registered activity from a crowd's response to a touchdown run during a football game in 2011. More details about the 12th man earthquake can be found here on pnsn.org.
A website called QuickShake will provide live feedback of the data from the sensors during the game. The Times says the feedback from the stadium's seismic monitors will be slightly faster than the television game which has about a 10-second delay. The QuickShake page has a 3 second delay.
The tests of the seismic impact of the crowd at the football stadium will be used to help scientist's experiment with an earthquake early warning system for the Seattle and northwest region. The Cascadia Subduction Zone, a megathrust fault, the Deep Juan de Fuca plate and Crustal faults are responsible for a constant earthquake threat in the region. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says the region can expect a magnitude 7+ earthquake every 30 to 50 years and a magnitude 9 earthquake about every 500 to 600 years. Take a look: