Superstorm Sandy Jolted Whole Of America

Superstorm Sandy did not just rattle the East Coast, it also jiggled the ground across the country ever so slightly, US scientists have revealed.

Earthquake sensors located as far away as the Pacific Northwest detected the storm's energy as it surged towards the New York metropolitan region last year.

The network typically records the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust, but it can pick up shaking triggered by ocean waves, mine cave-ins and tornadoes.

As Sandy lashed at New York City and New Jersey, the force of waves slamming into other waves shook the sea floor, which was recorded by the system of 500 sensors.

The energy generated by Sandy was similar to small earthquakes between magnitudes 2 and 3, seismologists at the University of Utah estimated.

Blue-green dots indicate low seismic activity, while yellow-orange-red dots indicate stronger seismic activity.

While they did not track Sandy's strength last October, they went back and analysed seismic data before and after the storm churned ashore.

The findings were presented at a meeting of the Seismological Society of America in Salt Lake City.

Sandy was not the first storm to be sensed by quake stations. When Hurricane Katrina took aim at New Orleans in 2005, instruments in California tracked the path of the punishing waves.

Other events also have been captured by seismic sensors in recent years.

A deadly coal mine collapse in Utah in 2007 registered as a magnitude 3.9 quake.

Earlier this year, a meteor that exploded over Siberia's Ural Mountains sent rippling shock waves that were detected by ground instruments.