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The United States men’s national team’s 2-0 World Cup victory over Australia took place inside Seattle’s Lumen Field, a place where fans are known to get raucous.
True to form, Seattle brought some of its most seismic cheering to the USMNT match.
Per the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, the second U.S. goal of the match — scored in the 43rd minute by defender Alex Freeman — registered 3.3 mm/s² at PNSN’s KDK seismic station near Lumen Field. PNSN is headquartered at the University of Washington and records seismic data across Oregon and Washington.
The measurement is vertical ground acceleration, or how quickly the ground jolted up or down during the crowd reaction. In this case, 3.3 mm/s² means the stadium-area ground motion accelerated by 3.3 millimeters per second squared at its peak.
A live KDK station seismogram during a quieter period showed only small background motion on a display scale of about 0.64 mm/s². Freeman’s goal peaked at roughly five times that reference scale.
Via email, PNSN confirmed that level of ground motion ties the seventh-biggest peak it has recorded at KDK for Seattle Seahawks games, matching the reaction to Kam Chancellor’s pick-six touchdown during the 2015 playoffs against the Carolina Panthers.
The largest fan-generated seismic signal PNSN has recorded for Seahawks games at Lumen Field was a touchdown scored by Marshawn Lynch in the 2011 playoffs, dubbed the “Beast Quake.” That event registered 4.8 mm/s² at KDK. Then-PNSN director John Vidale estimated that Lynch’s touchdown had energy roughly comparable to a magnitude 1.0 or 2.0 earthquake.
The first goal of the U.S.-Australia game, which was an own goal by Cameron Burgess in the 11th minute, reached a peak ground motion of 3.0 mm/s².
The first 2026 World Cup game at Lumen Field, between Belgium and Egypt on June 15, was also tracked by PNSN. Egypt’s opening goal, scored by Emam Ashour, registered 1.5 mm/s² while the equalizer, scored by Belgium via an own goal, registered 1.8 mm/s².
Lumen Field was designed specifically to maximize crowd noise on the field. Per Seattle news station KING 5, the stadium’s small footprint, the parabolic canopies covering the stands, and aluminum seats and concrete walls all help amplify crowd roars.
Methodology: USA TODAY analyzed EarthScope records from PNSN’s KDK seismic station, near Lumen Field using the UW.KDK.HNZ channel. Raw counts were converted to millimeters per second squared using the GeoCSV scale factor and demeaned for display. Waveforms were downsampled for the visual while preserving peak values.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: See how USMNT goals in Seattle were seismic like Seahawks touchdowns
Continue reading...
True to form, Seattle brought some of its most seismic cheering to the USMNT match.
Per the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, the second U.S. goal of the match — scored in the 43rd minute by defender Alex Freeman — registered 3.3 mm/s² at PNSN’s KDK seismic station near Lumen Field. PNSN is headquartered at the University of Washington and records seismic data across Oregon and Washington.
The measurement is vertical ground acceleration, or how quickly the ground jolted up or down during the crowd reaction. In this case, 3.3 mm/s² means the stadium-area ground motion accelerated by 3.3 millimeters per second squared at its peak.
A live KDK station seismogram during a quieter period showed only small background motion on a display scale of about 0.64 mm/s². Freeman’s goal peaked at roughly five times that reference scale.
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Via email, PNSN confirmed that level of ground motion ties the seventh-biggest peak it has recorded at KDK for Seattle Seahawks games, matching the reaction to Kam Chancellor’s pick-six touchdown during the 2015 playoffs against the Carolina Panthers.
The largest fan-generated seismic signal PNSN has recorded for Seahawks games at Lumen Field was a touchdown scored by Marshawn Lynch in the 2011 playoffs, dubbed the “Beast Quake.” That event registered 4.8 mm/s² at KDK. Then-PNSN director John Vidale estimated that Lynch’s touchdown had energy roughly comparable to a magnitude 1.0 or 2.0 earthquake.
The first goal of the U.S.-Australia game, which was an own goal by Cameron Burgess in the 11th minute, reached a peak ground motion of 3.0 mm/s².
The first 2026 World Cup game at Lumen Field, between Belgium and Egypt on June 15, was also tracked by PNSN. Egypt’s opening goal, scored by Emam Ashour, registered 1.5 mm/s² while the equalizer, scored by Belgium via an own goal, registered 1.8 mm/s².
Lumen Field was designed specifically to maximize crowd noise on the field. Per Seattle news station KING 5, the stadium’s small footprint, the parabolic canopies covering the stands, and aluminum seats and concrete walls all help amplify crowd roars.
Methodology: USA TODAY analyzed EarthScope records from PNSN’s KDK seismic station, near Lumen Field using the UW.KDK.HNZ channel. Raw counts were converted to millimeters per second squared using the GeoCSV scale factor and demeaned for display. Waveforms were downsampled for the visual while preserving peak values.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: See how USMNT goals in Seattle were seismic like Seahawks touchdowns
Continue reading...
