Researchers at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) have found that Taylor Swift triggered seismic activity as far away as Wexford during the three nights of her Eras Tour at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
The 50,000-strong Friday night crowd made the most noise with particular impact coming as fans danced to ‘Love Story’.
Eleanor Dunn, PhD candidate at DIAS, is lead researcher on the Swift Quake programme which has deployed the highest number of seismometers (21) for a purpose-made Eras Tour seismic study.
The concert was well detected by a seismometer at an Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) station approximately 14km away from the Aviva Stadium in the Dublin mountains.
Additionally, the song ‘Shake It Off’ was identifiable on another INSN seismometer more than 100km away in Wexford, with the observed frequency (2.66Hz) matching with the song’s beats per minute (BPM) of 160.
Analysis from instruments at DIAS on Burlington Road indicated that the first night of the concert series produced the highest energy output at 5600 joules. Nights two and three also exhibited high energy levels, measuring 5500 joules and 5250 joules, respectively.
The song ‘Love Story’ generated the highest seismic waves each night, indicating the largest seismic waves of the event.
The seismic activity from the concert was detected by 21 seismometers placed in the vicinity the Aviva Stadium.
Seismic activity is a vibration generated by an earthquake, explosion, or similar energetic source that travels within the Earth or along its surface. Seismometers were placed outside the Aviva Stadium to measure seismic activity generated during the concerts.
A seismometer is a very sensitive instrument which measures ground vibrations and can be used to detect earthquakes. When a seismometer detects seismic activity, it records this information digitally so that it can be analysed later.
Commenting on the research findings, Ms Dunn said: “My goal for this research is to create a greater understanding of seismic activity. The engagement with fans has been great so far with lots of people sharing their concert videos with us. The videos help us to enhance our understanding of the seismic impact of each concert and the research data has revealed some fascinating insights into the energy generated by Swifties. It’s important to note the movement generated by the concert was unlikely to have been felt by anyone other than those in the immediate vicinity."
She added: “Fans took Swift’s encouragement to ‘Shake It Off’ to a new level with it being detectable over 100km away in Wexford. It’s amazing that we’ve been able to measure the reaction of thousands of Swifties through our data.
"The opportunity to explore a seismic activity created by a different kind of phenomenon has been really interesting and shows how seismicity happens every day without us knowing. We’re still working on analysing data from the concert and we’d love if fans could continue to send us their videos from each night of the concert via our social media channels and website.”
