Sound of Dec. 26th Underwater Earthquake

Researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University have used data from the hydroacoustic station at Diego Garcia to piece together a more accurate story of the magnitude 9.3 Sumatra earthquake that rocked Asia on December 26, last year. The Diego Garcia hydroacoustic station, like others around the world, consist of underwater microphones setup to listen for the sounds of atomic blasts -- however, they end up recording other sounds that travel underwater, from the cracking of icebergs to earthquakes. The sounds coming from the Sumatra earthquake revealed the quake was traveling at 2.8 km/s to 2.1 km/s -- from south to north along the zone where the India Plate is being pushed beneath the Burma Plate. The researchers have made the sound of the quake available online in MP3 format. For more on the tsunami that resulted from the Dec. 26th quake, check out the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog.