Thunder + fiber-optic cabling used for seismic imaging

Ars Technica reports that a team of Penn State scientists has developed a model to decode the complex seismic signals generated when thunder injects energy into the Earth's upper crust, a phenomenon they call thunderquakes. By applying the model, they were able to reconstruct the subsurface terrain beneath their campus, demonstrating a potential middle ground between waiting for natural earthquakes and using man‑made explosions for seismic imaging. The researchers suggest this technique could provide a low‑impact way to probe the crust in future studies.

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