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- Title
Increasing ocean wave energy observed in Earth's seismic wavefield since the late 20<sup>th</sup> century.
- Authors
Aster, Richard C.; Ringler, Adam T.; Anthony, Robert E.; Lee, Thomas A.
- Abstract
Ocean waves excite continuous globally observable seismic signals. We use data from 52 globally distributed seismographs to analyze the vertical component primary microseism wavefield at 14–20 s period between the late 1980s and August 2022. This signal is principally composed of Rayleigh waves generated by ocean wave seafloor tractions at less than several hundred meters depth, and is thus a proxy for near-coastal swell activity. Here we show that increasing seismic amplitudes at 3σ significance occur at 41 (79%) and negative trends occur at 3σ significance at eight (15%) sites. The greatest absolute increase occurs for the Antarctic Peninsula with respective acceleration amplitude and energy trends (± 3σ) of 0.037 ± 0.008 nm s−2y−1 (0.36 ± 0.08% y−1) and 4.16 ± 1.07 nm2 s−2y−1 (0.58 ± 0.15% y−1), where percentage trends are relative to historical medians. The inferred global mean near-coastal ocean wave energy increase rate is 0.27 ± 0.03% y−1 for all data and is 0.35 ± 0.04% y−1 since 1 January 2000. Strongly correlated seismic amplitude station histories occur to beyond 50∘ of separation and show regional-to-global associations with El Niño and La Niña events. Ocean waves induce geographically extensive seafloor forces that excite a continuous and globally detectable seismic wavefield. This study infers global near-coastal average wave energy intensification at a rate of 0.27% per year since the late 1980's, and 0.35% per year since January 2000.
- Subjects
WAVE energy; EL Nino; RAYLEIGH waves; OCEAN waves; LA Nina; SEISMOMETERS; OCEAN
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2023, Vol 14, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-42673-w