How to be an outstanding band? Seismologist: as long as the noise is loud enough!

(first in fruit shell)

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in Pasadena, California, the new year always begins with the grand (Rose Parade) Rose Parade. This historic New year routine is now in its 131st.

according to the convention, the organizers will award the most cleverly designed floats. This year, several seismologists have also set up special awards for the event-the "sunken car Award" and the "noisiest Band Award".

this time, the ingenuity of design and performance is not considered at all. To attract the attention of seismologists, all you have to do is to shake the earth-the awards are judged entirely on how many signals they receive from the Earthquake monitoring system.

testing new equipment

this is a test conducted by seismological researchers using a float parade.

in November 2019, researchers at the California Institute of Technology received a city authorization to transform two idle fiber-optic lines into Earthquake detection devices. They connected these fiber-optic lines to a "distributed acoustic sensor" ((distributed acoustic sensing, DAS), a system that emits laser pulses into the fiber and measures the returned light signal (backward Rayleigh scattering). When the optical fiber is disturbed by Earthquake, the changes in the size, frequency, and phase of these optical signals can help researchers understand the relevant information of seismic waves.

the main purpose of this optical fiber detection system is to detect a small Earthquake and understand the geological structure below the city through Earthquake wave data. However, after it is enabled, not enough Earthquake signals have been collected to test and calibrate the system. Part of the fiber optic system lies just below the path of the Rose Parade, an artificially controlled activity that creates some slight "Earthquake" that can be detected, and its topic also provides an opportunity to publicize seismology to the public. As a result, seismologists got involved in this way.

so, who won the prize?

the results show that the Earthquake measurement system does record all kinds of disturbances to the optical fiber caused by the float. Motorcycles commuting to and from the open road, decorative floats heavy enough to deform the road slightly, and marching bands marching at a neat pace, all left their Earthquake signals.

(the motorcade left a jagged signal | Xin Wang et al)

according to seismological records, the researchers awarded the "most sunken float" award for the event to the decorative float from Amazon studio (Amazon Studios). In addition to being decorated with models of rockets and Voyager spaceships, a real bus was placed directly on the float.

(Xin Wang et al)

, the winner of the most sinking car Award and the noisiest Band Award was won by a marching band called "Human jukebox" (Human Jukebox), from (Southern University and Southern University and Institute of Agricultural Machinery M College). It was followed by the honorary band (Pasadena City College Honor band) of Pasadena City College.