Penn State researchers developed a model to decode the complex seismic signals generated by thunderstorms, dubbed 'thunderquakes.' Lightning creates chains of expanding shock waves through the atmosphere that partially enter the Earth's crust, and by untangling this complexity, the team used the signals to reconstruct subsurface terrain under their campus, offering a potential alternative to waiting for earthquakes or setting off explosives for seismic imaging.
Questions this post answers
What is a thunderquake and how is it used for seismic imaging?
A thunderquake is a seismic signal generated when energy from thunder enters the Earth's upper crust. Lightning creates thunder through superheated plasma bubbles along its jagged path, each generating an acoustic shock wave; these overlapping, expanding shock waves strike the ground and produce complex seismic signals that researchers at Penn State modeled to reconstruct subsurface terrain beneath their campus. daily.dev surfaces research like this for engineers curious about novel sensing techniques in geophysics.