Who Knew?

by Eileen Gilligan

Q. Has Madison been experiencing earthquakes?

A. “At first when it happened on Wednesday (Jan. 26), I thought maybe somebody dropped a desk on the floor right above me because it really shook the building,” says Donna Ford, Bascom Hall building manager. That was the longest vibration and thunderous noise she’s noticed, lasting just about a second.

But as other building occupants called her Thursday and Friday, she realized this may not be an isolated occurrence. The Physical Plant Department and the Center for Limnology provided the answer: ice. Not ice on the building, but ice expanding and contracting on Lake Mendota, a few hundred yards away.

“It happens every year,” says Gary Beck, physical plant assistant director. “It sounds like an earthquake and it feels like an earthquake,” he says.

“The vibrations and the noise are just caused by temperature changes, which result in ice expanding and contracting,” explains Nick Voichick, a research specialist in the Limnology Lab. These rumbles could continue for as long as ice is on the lake, he says.

Temperature changes in warmer and cooler directions cause the ice to shift and expand against the shore and along cracks, he says. Sheets of ice are often heaved over each other, sometimes resulting in ridges and cracks which extend for long distances from one shore to another.

Notes Beck: “Forces of nature, they are awesome.”

Q. What’s the tallest building on campus?

A. The headquarters of the Board of Regents, several foreign language departments and a few floors of classrooms are all located in Van Hise, UW–Madison’s tallest building. At 241 feet, 4 inches, Van Hise towers over its neighbors: the Social Science building across Observatory Drive, the Carillon Tower and certainly that other seat of power, Bascom Hall.

Built in 1967, Van Hise has 19 occupied floors plus a mechanical utility floor on top, which doesn’t get counted into building heights, according to Bob Hendricks, assistant director for planning.

Although the regents meet in the roomy 18th-floor conference room, the view gets even better from the 19th floor conference room, the only habitable space up there. Nearly floor-to-ceiling windows surround this room on three sides, offering a view west, north across Lake Mendota, and to the capitol and beyond to the east. The room is available for use by campus groups.