UW Seismic waves created during the 2011 “Beast Quake” traveled through the soft soils of the neighborhood near CenturyLink Field. John Vidale, a UW of Earth and space sciences, noticed the unique signal from the strong-motion station near the stadium and plotted a seismogram, adding notations on when specific events occurred within the stadium.
University of Washington - University of Washington seismologists this week installed two strong-motion seismometers at CenturyLink Field in Seattle to augment an existing station in recording shaking from "earthquakes” expected on Saturday during the NFC divisional game between the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is preparing a special website at www.pnsn.org/seahawks for the game to display seismograms from all three seismic stations in near-real time, and seismologists will also be available to explain interesting signals. Seahawks fans, collectively known as "the 12th man,” have a well-known reputation for generating noise and shaking in the stadium during games. Perhaps the best-known example occurred on Jan. 8, 2011, during a 67-yard touchdown run by the Seahawks Marshawn Lynch that helped Seattle defeat New Orleans in an NFC Wild Card game. Scientists hope to record similar shaking during Saturday's game to better understand how the stadium responds to the activity, and to measure the energy transmitted to the ground within the stadium and within the surrounding neighborhood. The experiment provides a test of equipment that will be used to monitor aftershocks following a traditional earthquake and will provide technical training for staff of the UW-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.
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