Anthropogenic Seismic Noise & COVID-19

Reduction of anthropogenic seismic noise due to COVID-19 lockdown

                                                                                                                                  -- Sandro Chatterjee

The Planet Earth is still trying its best to get rid of the unwanted guest, COVID-19. The impact of the virus is going to have a prolonged effect on the history of mankind. The down falling economies, joblessness, death of an entire generation are the harshest truth to stand with. But as the earth already refused to surrender in this battle vs. COVID -19, scientists all around the globe are looking for every positive impact in the upcoming days due to this deadly virus and the positive effects are now being signaled by the pulse of a seismometer.

The lack of human activities due to this prolonged lockdown caused human linked vibrations to be decreased by 50% between March and May 2020. The quiet period caused by the increasing social distancing, closure of industries, pubs, hotels, stadiums, and movies is the longest and most pronounced quiet period of Seismic noise ever recorded. The research work, led by Royal Observatory of Belgium and Imperial College London shows the dampening effects are most prominent in the densely populated areas. The quietness and the decreased human-generated noise are helping the researchers to accurately differentiate between natural and human seismic noises and are allowing them to detect previously concealed earthquake signals. The study also found the signatures of this lockdown measure on sensors buried hundreds of meters under the ground in remote areas. Researchers are eager to name this quiet period as “Anthropause”, as the anthropogenic activities are minimal and are the main causes to create this historical period. To read the full story Click Here.

The reduced anthropogenic noise in Brussels, Belgium after lockdown (source: Royal Observatory of Belgium)

NASA Monitors Environmental Signals From Global Response to COVID-19

NASA Monitors Environmental Signals From Global Response to COVID-19

Source: NASA

Decreases in air pollution, specifically tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2), over the Northeast United States due to COVID-19 response. Credits: NASA / Science Visualization Studio.

For the past several weeks, much of the world has experienced a new normal: one with fewer cars on the road and more time spent at home. Despite these changes, NASA’s Earth-observing fleet continues to operate, collecting key observations on how the planet is responding to this changing behaviour due to restrictions in place from COVID-19.

“Much like our satellites, our work continues remotely,” explains Acting Director for NASA’s Earth Science Division Sandra Cauffman. “NASA Earth scientists continue to collect and analyze satellite and ground-based data on a global scale, and our programs are helping to characterize and understand the global environmental signals. We do this by analyzing existing, long-term datasets and funding new, cutting-edge research.”

Ongoing observations of air quality and of Earth at night have helped provide immediate examples of how Earth’s systems are responding to these changes in human behaviour. From space, NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the Aura satellite and the European Space Agency’s TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) aboard the Sentinel-5P satellite have provided the data behind the images of rapidly falling nitrogen dioxide (NO ) levels around the world due to people sheltering in place.....Read more.