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The world now can hear a Clintonville boom.

Clintonville residents are not making up the sleep-shattering booms and window-rattling vibrations that have plagued this community for two weeks, City Administrator Lisa Kuss said Monday.

At midnight Monday, Kuss publicly released an audiotape of a single boom recorded March 24 by a college student turned amateur boom buster.

"It sounds like a bomb going off, at a long distance," Kuss said in describing the muffled, low-pitched rumble like the pounding of a bass drum or far-way thunder.

The boom comes at the 5th second of the 10-second-long recording. (It's more audible using headphones.)

Kuss personally vouched for the recording's authenticity and even sent a copy to the U.S. Geological Survey where geophysicists determined it could have been caused by a small earthquake.

"It is consistent with what we would expect for an earthquake," said Paul Earle, a seismologist at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

Brian Sullivan, a student at the Madison Area Technical College in Madison, had volunteered on several days over the past two weeks to capture an elusive boom on audiotape. The recording was made at 3:59 a.m. March 24 outside the City Utility Building on E. 12th St., Kuss said.

"Finally, we have the captured boom so that listeners can share in the event," Kuss said Monday. "This is exactly what people are hearing when they discuss hearing a booming sound."

Federal scientists said no seismic activity was detected that morning in Wisconsin.

A 1.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 12:15 a.m. March 20 beneath Clintonville, according to the National Earthquake Information Center. Seismologists there said recurring booms and vibrations reported that week in Clintonville were caused by a swarm of small earthquakes.

Beginning at 10:35 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, about 85 residents complained of late night booms that were the loudest of all and house-shaking vibrations that lasted longer than the week before.

No seismic activity was recorded that evening, however, by permanent and portable seismometers in the state, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

For that reason, Clintonville asked the USGS for help in deploying monitors within the city to better detect and record incidents.

Michigan Technological University in Houghton provided four seismometers and four sound sensors in response to the city's request. Assistant Professor Greg Waite installed the seismometers Thursday.

The equipment is monitored by the National Earthquake Information Center.