Urban environmental noise fell by up to 50% at some measuring stations in the tightest locking weeks, as buses and rail services were reduced, planes crashed and factories closed.
The quietest time on Earth was in 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced human activity and its impact on the planet’s crust, according to scientists working on a study global.
An international group of seismologists from 33 countries measured a drop of up to 50% in environmental noise known as commuters and factories collapsed after locksmiths came into being around the world .
The team, which included experts from the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich, a university, measured lower noise levels at 185 of the 268 seismic stations studied worldwide .
Urban environmental noise fell by up to 50% at some measuring stations during the tightest lock-in weeks, as buses and rail services were reduced, planes on the ground and factories closed.
This made it quieter than Christmas, traditionally the quietest time of the year.
“The weeks at lockdown were the quietest time we’ve recorded,” said seismologist John Clinton, citing data archives covering the past 20 years. “With people’s noise constantly increasing, it’s very likely that this is the quietest time for a very long time.”
The experts, led by Thomas Lecocq of the Royal Belgian Observatory, were able to monitor the “wave of silence” around the world as locking first occurred in China, then in Italy. , before they spread throughout the rest of the world.
Lower background noise during locking also resulted in small, unseen earthquakes in some areas. Small tremors will allow us to improve our understanding of seismic hazard, said scientist Frederick Massin, and will help assess the probability of larger earthquakes in the future.
“This was an opportunity never seen before. There’s no way we would normally be able to do this kind of experiment,” Massin said.