Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures

Human activity causes vibrations that propagate into the ground as high-frequency seismic waves. Measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread changes in human activity, leading to a months-long reduction in seismic noise of up to 50\%. The 2020 seismic noise quiet period is the longest and most prominent global anthropogenic seismic noise reduction on record. While the reduction is strongest at surface seismometers in populated areas, this seismic quiescence extends for many kilometers radially and hundreds of meters in depth. This provides an opportunity to detect subtle signals from subsurface seismic sources that would have been concealed in noisier times and to benchmark sources of anthropogenic noise. A strong correlation between seismic noise and independent measurements of human mobility suggests that seismology provides an absolute, real-time estimate of population dynamics.

@article{id2612,
  author = {Lecocq, Thomas and Hicks, Stephen P. and Van Noten, Koen and van Wijk, Kasper and Koelemeijer, Paula and De Plaen, Raphael S. M. and Massin, Fr\'ed\'erick and Hillers, Gregor and Anthony, Robert E. and Apoloner, Maria-Theresia and Arroyo-Sol\'orzano, Mario and Assink, Jelle D. and B\"uy\"ukakp{\i}nar, Pinar and Cannata, Andrea and Cannavo, Flavio and Carrasco, Sebastian and Caudron, Corentin and Chaves, Esteban J. and Cornwell, David G. and Craig, David and den Ouden, Olivier F. C. and Diaz, Jordi and Donner, Stefanie and Evangelidis, Christos P. and Evers, L\"aslo and Fauville, Benoit and Fernandez, Gonzalo A. and Giannopoulos, Dimitrios and Gibbons, Steven J. and Girona, T\'arsilo and Grecu, Bogdan and Grunberg, Marc and Het\'enyi, Gy\"orgy and Horleston, Anna and Inza, Adolfo and Irving, Jessica C. E. and Jamalreyhani, Mohammadreza and Kafka, Alan and Koymans, Mathijs R. and Labedz, Celeste R. and Larose, Eric and Lindsey, Nathaniel J. and McKinnon, Mika and Megies, Tobias and Miller, Meghan S. and Minarik, William and Moresi, Louis and M\'arquez-Ram{\'\i}rez, V{\'\i}ctor H. and M\"ollhoff, Martin and Nesbitt, Ian M. and Niyogi, Shankho and Ojeda, Javier and Oth, Adrien and Proud, Simon and Pulli, Jay and Retailleau, Lise and Rintam\"aki, Annukka E. and Satriano, Claudio and Savage, Martha K. and Shani-Kadmiel, Shahar and Sleeman, Reinoud and Sokos, Efthimios and Stammler, Klaus and Stott, Alexander E. and Subedi, Shiba and S{\o}rensen, Mathilde B. and Taira, Taka{\textbackslash}textquoterightaki and Tapia, Mar and Turhan, Fatih and van der Pluijm, Ben and Vanstone, Mark and Vergne, Jerome and Vuorinen, Tommi A. T. and Warren, Tristram and Wassermann, Joachim and Xiao, Han},
  doi = {10.1126/science.abd2438},
  journal = {Science},
  language = {en},
  title = {Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures},
  url = {https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/07/22/science.abd2438},
  year = {2020},
}

%O Journal Article
%A Lecocq, Thomas
%A Hicks, Stephen P.
%A Van Noten, Koen
%A van Wijk, Kasper
%A Koelemeijer, Paula
%A De Plaen, Raphael S. M.
%A Massin, Frédérick
%A Hillers, Gregor
%A Anthony, Robert E.
%A Apoloner, Maria-Theresia
%A Arroyo-Solórzano, Mario
%A Assink, Jelle D.
%A Büyükakpınar, Pinar
%A Cannata, Andrea
%A Cannavo, Flavio
%A Carrasco, Sebastian
%A Caudron, Corentin
%A Chaves, Esteban J.
%A Cornwell, David G.
%A Craig, David
%A den Ouden, Olivier F. C.
%A Diaz, Jordi
%A Donner, Stefanie
%A Evangelidis, Christos P.
%A Evers, Läslo
%A Fauville, Benoit
%A Fernandez, Gonzalo A.
%A Giannopoulos, Dimitrios
%A Gibbons, Steven J.
%A Girona, Társilo
%A Grecu, Bogdan
%A Grunberg, Marc
%A Hetényi, György
%A Horleston, Anna
%A Inza, Adolfo
%A Irving, Jessica C. E.
%A Jamalreyhani, Mohammadreza
%A Kafka, Alan
%A Koymans, Mathijs R.
%A Labedz, Celeste R.
%A Larose, Eric
%A Lindsey, Nathaniel J.
%A McKinnon, Mika
%A Megies, Tobias
%A Miller, Meghan S.
%A Minarik, William
%A Moresi, Louis
%A Márquez-Ramírez, Víctor H.
%A Möllhoff, Martin
%A Nesbitt, Ian M.
%A Niyogi, Shankho
%A Ojeda, Javier
%A Oth, Adrien
%A Proud, Simon
%A Pulli, Jay
%A Retailleau, Lise
%A Rintamäki, Annukka E.
%A Satriano, Claudio
%A Savage, Martha K.
%A Shani-Kadmiel, Shahar
%A Sleeman, Reinoud
%A Sokos, Efthimios
%A Stammler, Klaus
%A Stott, Alexander E.
%A Subedi, Shiba
%A Sørensen, Mathilde B.
%A Taira, Taka\textquoterightaki
%A Tapia, Mar
%A Turhan, Fatih
%A van der Pluijm, Ben
%A Vanstone, Mark
%A Vergne, Jerome
%A Vuorinen, Tommi A. T.
%A Warren, Tristram
%A Wassermann, Joachim
%A Xiao, Han
%R 10.1126/science.abd2438
%J Science
%G en
%T Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures
%U https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/07/22/science.abd2438
%D 2020