Clintonville booms finally recorded

CLINTONVILLE - An expert says Clintonville has been hit by at least one more earthquake.

City Administration Lisa Kuss sent out a release late Monday afternoon, saying equipment for the U.S. Geological Survey detected a quake on the night of March 29th.

According to the release, Michigan Tech Professor Greg Waite reviewed the data.

While he doesn't usually confirm earthquakes, Waite believes Clintonville was hit by one that measured 0.1 magnitude.

The USGS had previously recorded a quake measuring 1.5 struck Clintonville on March 20th.

• Click here for official details of the March 20 quake
• Click here for complete coverage of the strange noises in Clintonville

Along with physical data from the four seismometers and audio recording devices installed last Thursday that confirmed the 0.1 magnitude earthquake, there is now audio proof of the booming that's been shaking the city for more than two weeks.

The audio recording isn't recent one, or extremely clear.

• Click here to listen to the booms

But the U.S. Geological Survey confirms it is consistent with an earthquake.

Even with the recording, Clintonville officials say they still need residents to help find out what is happening in the community.

The city released the recording to the media early Monday morning.

“It's not something as simple as just playing it back and seeing you can hear it," said Clintonville City Administrator Lisa Kuss.

Kuss says the recording is from March 24th at 3:59 a.m.

However, Kuss says it wasn't until Monday that the recording could be sent out in a format that was clear enough to be heard.

In an email between the U.S. Geological Survey and Kuss, the USGS told Kuss that the boom, when in graph-form, "is consistent with what we would expect for an earthquake."

The boom was recorded at the city’s utility building on 12th St.

Brian Sullivan, a Madison Area Technical College student who has been working off and on with the city, recorded the boom.

UW-Green Bay geoscience professor Steve Dutch says the recording is interesting and still adds to the mystery.

"It sounded like nothing so much as somebody whacking on a 55-gallon drum," said Dutch.

“Something like this looks an awful lot like that sound recording," said Dutch while looking at seismometer readout from day of the Mount St. Helens eruption. Dutch was using the readout to better show what small earthquakes energy waves look like, compared to the waves found in the sound recording.

Dutch agrees with the U.S. Geological Survey's determination, that the waveform of the recording is consistent with earthquakes.

However, Dutch doesn't believe the boom came from seismic activity deep in the Earth. He believes the sound came from somewhere closer to the surface.

"It's too sharp and too distinct," said Dutch.

The city is still asking people to call the police department if they feel or hear anything. That number is (715) 823-3117.

"It's also important that not only for people to call, but to make sure that they look at their watch as soon as they hear it," said Kuss.

The USGS is also asking people to report strange noises at its website.