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8 August 2006, 07:04

In my home town, an earth quake was felt, which happened in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. The earthquake was 3.5 on the scale of Richter and related to the expoitation of a natural gass field.

I am trying to get readings on the instruments in Ny-Ålesund who have registered this earthquake.

registration of gravitation Helge Digre gave me a readout of the supercooled gravimeter, which he is servicing for the Japanese station. This instrument registers changes in the earth mass. The liquid inside of the earth is responding on the movements of the sun and the moon like the tides of the ocean. In the picture to the left this is seen as the red line. Small distortions e.g. storms are seen as the green line. There is clearly something happening at the 8th of August 2006.
Some more explanation about the supercooled gravimeter as explained by Helge:
The instrument exists of two round loops cooled to a temperature of minus 269 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Kelvin), with liquid helium. In these loops a current is running almost without resistance due to the low temperature. The moving electrons produce a stable magnetic field in which a small iron ball is hanging. The position of the ball is depending on the earth gravitation and registered.
Starting a current in the two loops is also a nice story. The loop is connected with two wires, relatively close together. When a current is send through these wires, the electrons follow the shortest route. But this part of the loop gets warm and resistance builds up. The electrons start now to follow the longest route through the loop. When the electrons arrive again at the short part of the loop, this has cooled down and the electrons continue circling through the loop without resistance.



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Storholmen catch earthquake Daan leaves