Coronavirus lockdown reducing Earth’s seismic vibrations: Geoscientists

The coronavirus infection has caused a lot of destruction in several lives, leaving the entire world in a standstill position. With the lockdown causing a huge loss to the economy of several countries, the decision has come out well for the earth's movement. In a recent study, according to seismologists, the Earth's crust has started recording less seismic noise. 

Less seismic noise

As the people around the world have restrained themselves from stepping out of their house allowing the virus to run its course, researchers who study Earth’s crust have reported much less seismic noise. The seismic noise is caused not only by natural phenomena like earthquakes, but also other activities like industrial and transport activities, which were typically less during Christmas holidays last year in December.

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 However, this time the reduction in background sound has occurred due to the closure of schools, restaurants, offices, and other public spaces- and a ban on travel through the air in quite a few states around the world due to the coronavirus disease.
As per reports, according to Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels and one of the researchers, the seismic noise has decreased by one third due to diminished human activity, which has boosted the sensitivity of the machines to record and detect frequency waves.

Now the plus point of this is that the researchers and seismologists will now be able to squeeze in more information and collect accurate data than before, despite several research centers being located in big cities, typically characterized by permanent noise and chaos. Celeste Labedz, a graduate student in geophysics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who noticed similar fall in seismic noise in a station in Los Angeles, tweeted her reaction which garnered much response on social media. 

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She reportedly wrote that cars, planes, industry, and even walking on road can make small vibrations in the ground, and now with less noise, it means that one can see Social Distancing on seismometers and the drop is seriously wild. Apart from this, the places which are located far away from the busy life of cities are picking up the same level of noise as it was before.

Image credit: Pixabay