The Seattle Seahawks' CenturyLink Field is known as the loudest stadium in the NFL, and it's created earthquake-like tremors before. Now, scientists plan to use the expected "fan quakes" during Saturday's playoff game against the Carolina Panthers to experiment with an earthquake warning system.
Scientists noticed earth shaking around CenturyLink Field during running back Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard "Beast Quake" touchdown run in the 2011 playoffs against the New Orleans Saints. That run created a fan reaction so big that it created a seismic tremor recorded by a monitoring station near the stadium, recording a magnitude-1 or -2 earthquake.
''We became interested of what we could see if we put the instruments closer, right in the stadium with people in the stands,'' said John Vidale of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.
University of Washington scientists, along with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, have installed three instruments in the stadium - two up in the stands and one by the playing field.
A new tool called ''QuickShake'' will show vibrations within three seconds of the occurrence, showing the scientists before the television broadcast, which has about a 10-second delay.
''The Seahawks experiment should provide us and the Internet-connected public with a feel for the minimum time early warning might provide,'' said Steve Malone, a UW professor emeritus of Earth and space sciences.
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