Earthquake Monitor Live Cam

A paper drum seismograph recording ground motion fills this webcam view, at a station in Lincoln, Nebraska. The stylus traces its lines across the rotating drum, and the labels along the edge identify the station and its neighbours.

The sensor sits below ground and picks up local shocks down to small magnitudes as well as large earthquakes anywhere in the world — a big event on the far side of the planet shows here as a long low wave train an hour or so afterwards.

Most of the time the trace is a flat line with traffic noise on it. The recording paper is changed daily, which is the only regular movement in the frame.