The Earth vibrates significantly less, due to the decrease in human activity.
Flights stopped. Fewer trains run. There is no rush hour. The world – especially in cities – looks dramatically different during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
According to seismologists, this dramatic reduction in human hustle and bustle makes the Earth vibrate much less. The planet is 'standing still'.
Thomas Lecock, a geologist and seismologist at the Royal Observatory in Belgium, noted that the capital city of Brussels has been experiencing a 30-50% reduction in ambient seismic noise since measurements began, CNN reported.
This means that the data collected by seismologists is becoming more accurate, capable of detecting even the smallest tremors – despite the fact that many of the scientific instruments in use today are located near urban centers.
“You will receive a signal with less noise from above, which will allow you to squeeze a little more information out of these events,” Andy Frassetto, a seismologist at the Joint Research Institute for Seismology in Washington, DC, told Nature.
Researchers in Los Angeles and West London, UK, noticed a similar trend.
But according to Nature, seismologists collecting data from remote stations far from human civilization may not see any changes at all.
Despite this, the significant reduction in seismic noise also shows that we are at least doing one thing right during the current pandemic: by staying in our homes, waiting for the virus to stop spreading.
