Seismic noise to public health signal: investigating the effects of pandemic guidance in Mexico

ABSTRACT Understanding public activities and developing thoughtful public health strategies are key goals in efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores how seismic noise data can be used as part of such efforts. We show that the fluctuation of seismic noise levels has the capacity to demonstrate aggregate human movement. When considered in relation to major public health efforts, these data can help us evaluate the effectiveness of public health communication strategies that seek to limit social activity. We show evidence that, broadly speaking, Mexican national efforts to encourage “lockdown” worked for a few months in areas around seismic stations, and broke down as time went on. Further, we suggest that changes in the levels of human activity detected in seismic noise can be read alongside social data that provide some clues as to why people respond or not to health recommendations. Our findings have implications for both efforts to understand the nature and effects of public trust in the Mexican state and also the practicalities of using seismic noise data in this manner. An interdisciplinary analysis allows us to address these data and their possible use in a way that takes seriously the opportunities and challenges that emerge in the context of contemporary biopolitics and emerging configurations of surveillance technologies. Analyzing anthropogenic seismic activity opens up new opportunities for ethical data collection and use.