A long-term review of outreach activity on social media related to seismic data

Over the past decade, we have carried out sustained outreach activity on social media aimed at presenting seismic data to students and the general public. The primary goal has been not only to increase the visibility of Earth sciences, but also to highlight the fundamental role of data acquisition in subsequent scientific tasks, such as numerical modeling and tectonic interpretation. A significant part of this effort has focused on visualizing seismic waves generated by local, regional, and teleseismic earthquakes, often using data recorded by the GEO3BCN Educational Seismic Network deployed in northeastern Spain. These activities are particularly valuable in regions characterized by low to moderate seismicity, where public familiarity with earthquakes is generally limited.

Beyond earthquake-related content, we have also shared posts illustrating ground vibrations generated by non-tectonic natural processes and anthropogenic sources. Topics related to environmental seismology often attract strong public interest, as it is not widely known that natural phenomena such as tides, ocean waves, rainfall, wind, and thunder can be monitored using seismic data. Similarly, vibrations induced by human activity -from student movement between classrooms to crowd dynamics during music concerts or football matches- tend to generate considerable attention, sometimes even reaching mass media coverage. We leverage this curiosity as an opportunity to bring seismology, and Earth sciences more broadly, closer to society.

This work has benefited from partial support of the EPYSIM Project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ref.: PID2022-136981NB-I00).