Seahawks fans break noise record again; set off seismometer with quake-like shakes
Dec 3, 2013, 5:54 AM | Updated: 12:12 pm
The 12th Man set a new noise record for loudest outdoor sports stadium, taking back a mark they achieved earlier this season.
An official from Guinness World Records recorded the crowd noise at 137.6 decibels during the Seahawks victory over the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.
The record came during the second quarter of Seattle’s 34-7 victory and was announced on the Seahawks Twitter page.
Seahawks fans had set a record of 136.6 in a win over San Francisco in September. The mark was topped by Kansas City fans in October with 137.5 decibels.
To put that in perspective, a jet engine at 100 feet is about 140 decibels.
The 12th Man also caused some quake-like shakes.
A University of Washington earth sciences professor says the legendary noisemaking of Seattle Seahawks’ hometown fans registered on a nearby seismometer with roughly the same energy as a magnitude 1 or 2 earthquake during the game.
John Vidale is also director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. He says it’s hard to compare the fans’ half minute of stomping, jumping and shouting during a first quarter fumble return for a touchdown to the quick “pop” of a small earthquake. Still he says, “the energy is very roughly the same.”
The UW seismometer in question is located near CenturyLink Field.
Vidale says it also recorded “three or four more good bursts,” always coinciding with Seahawks’ touchdowns.
The same seismometer recorded fans’ noisy reaction to Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Quake” back on Jan. 8, 2011, when Lynch ran 67 yards for a touchdown that clinched a playoff victory over the Saints. Vidale says his lab didn’t quantify that one with a magnitude.
An Associated Press report.
