Danish and German students deploy seismometers on Stevns after missed earthquake opportunity

A team of Danish and German university students has begun installing 14 seismometers across the Stevns peninsula in eastern Denmark, a project long planned but coinciding with last week’s earthquake in nearby Køge Bay, state broadcaster DR reports.

The instruments, deployed by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) in collaboration with the University of Münster, will monitor ground movement—including landslides at Stevns Klint and seismic activity—for the next year.

Nicolai Cordes Hvass, a geology student at the University of Copenhagen, told DR the timing was unfortunate. “It would have been perfect if we’d had the meters in place during the quake,” he said, referring to the magnitude-2.8 tremor on 20 May, centered just offshore.

GEUS seismologist Emil Fønss Jensen said Stevns was an ideal location due to its unstable cliffs, where rockfalls could be detected by the sensitive equipment. The data will help researchers better understand regional seismic patterns.