Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures

Thomas Lecocq¹, Stephen P Hicks², Koen Van Noten³, Kasper van Wijk⁴, Paula Koelemeijer⁵, Raphael S M De Plaen⁶, Frédérick Massin⁷, Gregor Hillers⁸, Robert E Anthony⁹, Maria-Theresia Apoloner¹⁰, Mario Arroyo-Solórzano¹¹, Jelle D Assink¹², Pinar Büyükakpınar^{13

14}, Andrea Cannata^{15

16}, Flavio Cannavo¹⁶, Sebastian Carrasco¹⁷, Corentin Caudron¹⁸, Esteban J Chaves¹⁹, David G Cornwell²⁰, David Craig²¹, Olivier F C den Ouden^{12

22}, Jordi Diaz²³, Stefanie Donner²⁴, Christos P Evangelidis²⁵, Läslo Evers^{12

22}, Benoit Fauville²⁶, Gonzalo A Fernandez²⁷, Dimitrios Giannopoulos^{28

29}, Steven J Gibbons³⁰, Társilo Girona³¹, Bogdan Grecu³², Marc Grunberg³³, György Hetényi³⁴, Anna Horleston³⁵, Adolfo Inza³⁶, Jessica C E Irving^{35

37}, Mohammadreza Jamalreyhani^{38

14}, Alan Kafka³⁹, Mathijs R Koymans^{12

22}, Celeste R Labedz⁴⁰, Eric Larose¹⁸, Nathaniel J Lindsey⁴¹, Mika McKinnon^{42

43}, Tobias Megies⁴⁴, Meghan S Miller⁴⁵, William Minarik^{46

47}, Louis Moresi⁴⁵, Víctor H Márquez-Ramírez⁶, Martin Möllhoff²¹, Ian M Nesbitt^{48

49}, Shankho Niyogi⁵⁰, Javier Ojeda⁵¹, Adrien Oth⁵², Simon Proud⁵³, Jay Pulli^{54

39}, Lise Retailleau^{55

56}, Annukka E Rintamäki⁸, Claudio Satriano⁵⁵, Martha K Savage⁵⁷, Shahar Shani-Kadmiel²², Reinoud Sleeman¹², Efthimios Sokos⁵⁸, Klaus Stammler²⁴, Alexander E Stott⁵⁹, Shiba Subedi³⁴, Mathilde B Sørensen⁶⁰, Taka'aki Taira⁶¹, Mar Tapia⁶², Fatih Turhan¹³, Ben van der Pluijm⁶³, Mark Vanstone⁶⁴, Jerome Vergne⁶⁵, Tommi A T Vuorinen⁸, Tristram Warren⁶⁶, Joachim Wassermann⁴⁴, Han Xiao⁶⁷

Affiliations

¹ Seismology-Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium. thomas.lecocq@seismology.be.
² Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
³ Seismology-Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK.
⁶ Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico.
⁷ Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Seismology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁹ Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
¹⁰ Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Vienna, Austria.
¹¹ Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
¹² R&D Seismology and Acoustics, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), De Bilt, Netherlands.
¹³ Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
¹⁴ GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany.
¹⁵ Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università Degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy.
¹⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy.
¹⁷ Bensberg Observatory, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹⁸ Université. Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IRD, IFSTTAR, ISTerre, Grenoble, France.
¹⁹ Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica at Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA), Heredia, Costa Rica.
²⁰ Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen, UK.
²¹ Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Geophysics Section, Dublin, Ireland.
²² Department of Geoscience and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
²³ Geosciences Barcelona, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
²⁴ Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany.
²⁵ Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece.
²⁶ Noise Department, Brussels Environment, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium.
²⁷ Observatorio San Calixto, La Paz, Bolivia.
²⁸ Seismotech S.A., Athens, Greece.
²⁹ Laboratory of Geophysics & Seismology, Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Chania, Greece.
³⁰ Norges Geotekniske Institutt, Oslo, Norway.
³¹ Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
³² National Institute for Earth Physics, Magurele, Romania.
³³ Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RENASS), Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, EOST UMS830, Strasbourg, France.
³⁴ Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁵ School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol, UK.
³⁶ Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Lima, Peru.
³⁷ Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
³⁸ Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
³⁹ Weston Observatory, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Weston, MA, USA.
⁴⁰ Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁴¹ Geophysics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴² SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
⁴³ Faculty of Science, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴⁴ Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
⁴⁵ Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
⁴⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴⁷ GEOTOP Research Centre, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴⁸ Raspberry Shake, S.A., Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama.
⁴⁹ Department of Earth and Climate Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
⁵⁰ University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
⁵¹ Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁵² European Center for Geodynamics and Seismology, Walferdange, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
⁵³ National Centre for Earth Observation, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁵⁴ Raytheon BBN Technologies, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁵⁵ Université de Paris, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris, France.
⁵⁶ Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, La Plaine des Cafres, France.
⁵⁷ School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁵⁸ Department of Geology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
⁵⁹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK.
⁶⁰ Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁶¹ Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁶² Laboratori d'Estudis Geofísics Eduard Fontserè, Institut d'Estudis Catalans (LEGEF-IEC), Barcelona, Spain.
⁶³ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶⁴ Geology Department, Truro School, Truro, Cornwall, UK.
⁶⁵ Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR 7516, Université de Strasbourg/EOST, CNRS, Strasbourg, France.
⁶⁶ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁶⁷ Department of Earth Science and Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.

PMID: 32703907
DOI: 10.1126/science.abd2438

Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures

Thomas Lecocq et al. Science. 2020.

. 2020 Sep 11;369(6509):1338-1343.

doi: 10.1126/science.abd2438. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Seismology-Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium. thomas.lecocq@seismology.be.
² Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
³ Seismology-Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK.
⁶ Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico.
⁷ Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Seismology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁹ Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
¹⁰ Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Vienna, Austria.
¹¹ Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
¹² R&D Seismology and Acoustics, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), De Bilt, Netherlands.
¹³ Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
¹⁴ GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany.
¹⁵ Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università Degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy.
¹⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy.
¹⁷ Bensberg Observatory, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹⁸ Université. Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IRD, IFSTTAR, ISTerre, Grenoble, France.
¹⁹ Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica at Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA), Heredia, Costa Rica.
²⁰ Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen, UK.
²¹ Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Geophysics Section, Dublin, Ireland.
²² Department of Geoscience and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
²³ Geosciences Barcelona, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
²⁴ Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany.
²⁵ Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece.
²⁶ Noise Department, Brussels Environment, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium.
²⁷ Observatorio San Calixto, La Paz, Bolivia.
²⁸ Seismotech S.A., Athens, Greece.
²⁹ Laboratory of Geophysics & Seismology, Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Chania, Greece.
³⁰ Norges Geotekniske Institutt, Oslo, Norway.
³¹ Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
³² National Institute for Earth Physics, Magurele, Romania.
³³ Réseau National de Surveillance Sismique (RENASS), Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, EOST UMS830, Strasbourg, France.
³⁴ Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁵ School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol, UK.
³⁶ Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Lima, Peru.
³⁷ Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
³⁸ Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
³⁹ Weston Observatory, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Weston, MA, USA.
⁴⁰ Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁴¹ Geophysics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴² SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA.
⁴³ Faculty of Science, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴⁴ Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
⁴⁵ Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
⁴⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴⁷ GEOTOP Research Centre, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴⁸ Raspberry Shake, S.A., Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama.
⁴⁹ Department of Earth and Climate Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
⁵⁰ University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
⁵¹ Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁵² European Center for Geodynamics and Seismology, Walferdange, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
⁵³ National Centre for Earth Observation, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁵⁴ Raytheon BBN Technologies, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁵⁵ Université de Paris, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris, France.
⁵⁶ Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, La Plaine des Cafres, France.
⁵⁷ School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁵⁸ Department of Geology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
⁵⁹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK.
⁶⁰ Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁶¹ Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁶² Laboratori d'Estudis Geofísics Eduard Fontserè, Institut d'Estudis Catalans (LEGEF-IEC), Barcelona, Spain.
⁶³ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶⁴ Geology Department, Truro School, Truro, Cornwall, UK.
⁶⁵ Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR 7516, Université de Strasbourg/EOST, CNRS, Strasbourg, France.
⁶⁶ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁶⁷ Department of Earth Science and Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.

PMID: 32703907
DOI: 10.1126/science.abd2438

Abstract

Human activity causes vibrations that propagate into the ground as high-frequency seismic waves. Measures to mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused widespread changes in human activity, leading to a months-long reduction in seismic noise of up to 50%. The 2020 seismic noise quiet period is the longest and most prominent global anthropogenic seismic noise reduction on record. Although the reduction is strongest at surface seismometers in populated areas, this seismic quiescence extends for many kilometers radially and hundreds of meters in depth. This quiet period provides an opportunity to detect subtle signals from subsurface seismic sources that would have been concealed in noisier times and to benchmark sources of anthropogenic noise. A strong correlation between seismic noise and independent measurements of human mobility suggests that seismology provides an absolute, real-time estimate of human activities.

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Quiet Anthropocene, quiet Earth.
Denolle MA, Nissen-Meyer T. Denolle MA, et al. Science. 2020 Sep 11;369(6509):1299-1300. doi: 10.1126/science.abd8358. Science. 2020. PMID: 32913087 No abstract available.

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Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures

Affiliations

Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures

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