ANU recorded Australia’s biggest ever footy-quake
The power of a crowd. What happens when you take a seismometer to a footy match? Image: ANU Media
A crowd of enthusiastic footy fans have made seismic history. On the 14th of August 2022, the Australian Seismometers in Schools (AuSIS) team installed a seismometer underneath GIO Stadium Canberra to measure the impact of a rugby crowd making a giant coordinated shout and clap (known as a Viking Thunder Clap) on the Earth (known as a ‘footy-quake’).
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WATCH: The footy-quake in action!
Motivated by a successful experience recording footy-quakes in 2017 at a Raiders’ game, AuSIS repeated the experiment for National Science Week 2022. The AuSIS team arrived to a packed stadium and timed the quake to coincide when the players walked out.
The resident footy commentator encouraged the crowd to make their most enthusiastic Viking claps. The result – a series of record breaking footy-quakes. The seismic waves can be seen below; the peaks represent footy quakes with higher amplitudes.
“The signal from the Viking clap was 25% larger this year than it was in 2017 with a crowd of a similar size.” – Dr Michelle Salmon
A Seismometer is an instrument that records ground shaking caused by events such as earthquakes, explosions, volcanic activity and football fans. The higher amplitudes of the seismic waves represent stronger quakes. The results of the footy-quake above show the vertical shaking from the crowd’s Viking Clap. Image: Dr Michelle Salmon
“I’m very pleased with the results and pleased with the response. People got really into it. While it’s relatively small, one of the things we probably need to do now is making a footy quake magnitude so that we don’t have to say 15 micrometres per second.” – Professor Malcolm Sambridge
Engaging Science
AuSIS footy-quake activities represent a fantastic way to communicate seismology to the public, where the crowd got to be part of a science experience, and the AuScope supported AuSIS team can help the general public understand how AuScope instruments work and what they are capable of.
Professor Malcolm Sambridge demonstrates seismic waves with double rainbow slinky.
Before the match, the AuSIS team had a great time engaging people entering the stadium. Thanks to National Science Week 2022 advertising, most knew why the team were there and were curious to learn more. The team explained the science beneath their feet with rainbow slinkies (a fun educational tool) and an additional seismometer at the marque on the day.
The footy-quake experiment was a great outreach activity that aligns with the vision of AuSIS. AuSIS have installed 50 research-quality seismometers in schools across Australia and aim to raise awareness of seismology as a field of study and promote science as a career choice.