FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A 28-year-old graduate student from Bozeman is using earthquake sensors to track aircraft in Alaska, a groundbreaking innovation that could impact national park policies and protect caribou migrations.
Bella Seppi conducts her research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. She recently submitted her latest research after about two years of work, she said.
Seppi’s research used nodal seismometers, which are typically placed in the ground to track earthquakes. However, the sensors also pick up the sound of flying planes.
“The project was to see if we could see what a specific aircraft was based on what it looked like on a seismometer,” Seppi told MTN.
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Every aircraft type has a unique sound signature. By analyzing the Doppler effect—similar to how an ambulance siren sounds higher pitched as it approaches and lower as it drives away—Seppi figured out how to read those signatures. She matched the sounds against a catalog of known aircraft patterns to identify specific planes, such as a Cessna 185.
“That information can tell you how fast it’s flying, how high it’s flying. It can tell you what type of aircraft it might be,” she said.
“Different prop planes versus jets and you could clearly see the difference in frequency.”
To gather the data, researchers placed the sensors in the ground.
“So, this is what we used in our study. People dug a hole in the snow and then put this under it,” Seppi explained while holding one of the sensors.
That research, along with her latest submission of work, reveal how human-related sound signals, including aircraft, vehicles, and trains, produce environmental impacts on national parks.
“People in villages are describing issues with the caribou migration and connections to aircraft – like, low-flying aircraft – and how that impacts caribou,” Seppi said.
Seppi said two of the most rewarding outcomes tied to her research are the potential to impact policy change in Alaska’s national parks and to protect local food sources.
“It’s also important for subsistence hunting in Alaska. So, when the migration changes it will impact different communities’ source of food,” she added.
Seppi remains passionate about her research and her role in benefiting Alaska’s national parks.
“That’s what I’m most excited about,” she said.
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