A Shaken World "Seismic Shift" [September] was very interesting, particularly in light of the recent attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. I was impressed by the extent of information obtained from the seismic record of the Kursk explosion. I would be very interested in learning about the kind of seismic data and information that was obtained from the terrorist attacks. I am also wondering if this technology is being used (or has been used in the past) to gather information on terrorist organizations.
Steve BrowningSan Francisco, California
Seismologist Terry Wallace responds: Governments have long used seismology to investigate explosions, whether accidental or intentional. The U.S. government is also one of several that operate seismic stations to monitor nuclear-weapons testing. These same stations have been used to investigate other phenomena of military significance. In the case of the World Trade Center attack, the horrific events were recorded by stations ...
