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- Title
Covid-19 lockdown effects on the seismic recordings of Central America.
- Authors
Arroyo-Solórzano, Mario; Castro-Rojas, Diego; Massin, Frédérick; Linkimer, Lepolt; Arroyo, Ivonne; Yani, Robin
- Abstract
A noticeable decrease in seismic noise was registered worldwide during the lockdown measurements of 2020 to prevent the Covid-19. In Central America, strong lockdown measures started during March of 2020. We have used seismic stations from Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to study the effects of these measures on seismic records by characterizing temporal variations in the high-frequency band (4-14 Hz) via spectral and amplitude analyses. In addition, we study the link between the reduction of seismic noise and the number of earthquake detection and felt reports in Costa Rica and Guatemala. We found that seismic stations near the capitals of Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador, presented a decrease in the typical seismic noise level from 200 to 140 nm, 100 to 80 nm, and 120 to 80 nm, respectively. Our results showed that the largest reduction of ~ 50% in seismic noise were observed in seismic stations near main airports, busy roads, and densely populated cities. In Nicaragua, the seismic noise levels remained constant (~ 40 nm) as no lockdown measures were applied. We noted that the decrease in seismic noise levels allowed to improve earthquake locations and increment the number of reports of low magnitude felt earthquakes. Our results imply that seismic data can be useful to verify the compliance of lockdown measures and to explore effects of the decrease in the seismic noise in the earthquake detection and felt reports.
- Subjects
COSTA Rica; GUATEMALA; EL Salvador; COVID-19; STAY-at-home orders; SEISMIC event location; EARTHQUAKE magnitude; NOISE control; MICROSEISMS
- Publication
Solid Earth Discussions, 2021, p1
- ISSN
1869-9537
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/se-2021-25