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The shockwaves of the earthquake that devastated Haiti spread throughout the world, even making a mark at the University of Maine.
Based in the basement of a Somerset Hall, a seismometer used for education and research records waves from earthquakes every day. On Jan. 12, the seismograph quite literally went off the charts with readings.
As part of the New England Seismic Network, the seismometer is kept on 24 hours a day to detect tremors and to conduct research about what is known about the earth’s interior. The readings are sent to Boston College’s Weston Observatory’s Web site every day.
The readings are also on display in the Bryand Global Sciences Building. When the tremors from the Haiti earthquake reached UMaine, a professor happened to be walking by the display.
“All of a sudden there was a cluster of geologists looking at it,” said Alice Kelley, a professor in the department of earth sciences.
She said that some expected to feel the tremors because the readings were so high — a 7.0 on the richter scale.
“It was so powerful and relatively close,” she said.
The seismograph also picked up the aftershock tremors that occurred around 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Bangor Daily News