Booming noises recorded in Clintonville, city officials release audio

CLINTONVILLE, WI (WTAQ) - It’s been a challenge to record them, but Clintonville city officials have the first audio recording of the actual booming noises the city has been dealing with since Sunday night, March 18th.  City Administrator Lisa Kuss says a Madison Area Technical College student Brian Sullivan was able to record a boom noise on Saturday March 24th.  Kuss says Sullivan has been working with the city on and off for over the two week period whenever he has been available.  The booming noises are accompanied with ground trembles that have woken up residents in the middle of the night.  The U.S. Geological Survey says the area did experience a 1.5 magnitude earthquake shortly after midnight  Tuesday March 20th.  The USGS says micro-quakes like the Clintonville event are regular across the United State, but are not often felt. The USGS has characterized the Clintonville phenomenon as likely a swarm of micro-quakes.  Late last week, Michigan Tech loaned the city four seismometers, and infra-sound equipment to detect the booming noises and seismic activity. Those are now transmitting data in real time to the USGS.   The USGS has had a difficult time detecting the small micro-quakes because there are only two permanent seismic stations in Wisconsin, not enough to pinpoint activity.  The recorded micro-quake came days after the first reports of booming noises, after portable array data that wasn’t immediately available, picked up the seismic activity from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.  Reports of the booming and shaking died down after Thursday March 22nd, but a handful of reports still flowed in.  Last Tuesday, three to four loud booms were called in by 70 different residents.  

Comments