Thunderquakes can act like X-rays for the ground

Thunderquakes can act like X-rays for the ground

Scientists used fiber-optic cables to turn “thunderquakes” into underground maps that could help reveal hidden hazards beneath cities.

Thunderquakes turn storms into a new tool for imaging underground hazards

Thunder can send enough energy into the ground to create seismic waves that researchers can use to see underground. Penn State researchers used 2.5 miles of buried fiber-optic cable to identify 458 thunderquakes and map weak zones beneath campus. The approach could help study sinkholes, groundwater and other shallow hazards in places where earthquakes or traditional seismic surveys are limited. Thunderstorms can shake the ground in ways that do …