Seismic noise variability as an indicator of urban mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Santiago metropolitan region, Chile

Ojeda, Javier; Ruiz, Sergio

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1075-2021

Articles | Volume 12, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1075-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Social seismology – the effect of COVID-19 lockdown measures...

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1075-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 5

Research article

|

17 May 2021

Research article |

| 17 May 2021

Seismic noise variability as an indicator of urban mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Santiago metropolitan region, Chile

Javier Ojeda and Sergio Ruiz

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1075-2021-supplement

Data sets

Red Sismologica Nacional. International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks Universidad de Chile https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/C1

Mobility Trends Reports Apple https://www.apple.com/covid19/mobility

Public transport, epidemiological and flight data Ministry of Science https://github.com/MinCiencia/Datos-COVID19

Dinámica de Contagios ICOVID Chile https://www.icovidchile.cl

Model code and software

SeismoRMS – A simple Python/Jupyter Notebook package for studying seismic noise changes Version 1.0 T. Lecocq, F. Massin, C. Satriano, M. Vanstone, and T. Megies https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3820046

Short summary

In Santiago, Chile, the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 was recorded by seismological instruments. This analysis shows temporal changes in the surface vibrations controlled by lockdown phases, mobility, and epidemiological factors. Our findings suggest that dynamic lockdown and the early deconfinement in April 2020 caused an increase in mobility and therefore virus transmission. We propose that seismic networks could be used to monitor urban mobility as a new proxy in public policies.