The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean
Oceanic microseisms are small oscillations of the ground, in the frequency range of 0.05–0.3 Hz, associated with the occurrence of energetic ocean waves of half the corresponding frequency. In 1950, Longuet-Higgins suggested in a landmark theoretical paper that (i) microseisms originate from surface...
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ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:34577 2023-05-15T16:28:27+02:00 The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean Kedar, Sharon Longuet-Higgins, Michael Webb, Frank Graham, Nicholas Clayton, Robert Jones, Cathleen 2008-03-08 application/pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/1/Kedar2008.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179 en eng Royal Society of London https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/1/Kedar2008.pdf Kedar, Sharon and Longuet-Higgins, Michael and Webb, Frank and Graham, Nicholas and Clayton, Robert and Jones, Cathleen (2008) The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 464 (2091). pp. 777-793. ISSN 1364-5021. doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.0277. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179> other Article PeerReviewed 2008 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2007.0277 2021-11-11T18:51:26Z Oceanic microseisms are small oscillations of the ground, in the frequency range of 0.05–0.3 Hz, associated with the occurrence of energetic ocean waves of half the corresponding frequency. In 1950, Longuet-Higgins suggested in a landmark theoretical paper that (i) microseisms originate from surface pressure oscillations caused by the interaction between oppositely travelling components with the same frequency in the ocean wave spectrum, (ii) these pressure oscillations generate seismic Stoneley waves on the ocean bottom, and (iii) when the ocean depth is comparable with the acoustic wavelength in water, compressibility must be considered. The efficiency of microseism generation thus depends on both the wave frequency and the depth of water. While the theory provided an estimate of the magnitude of the corresponding microseisms in a compressible ocean, its predictions of microseism amplitude heretofore have never been tested quantitatively. In this paper, we show a strong agreement between observed microseism and calculated amplitudes obtained by applying Longuet-Higgins' theory to hindcast ocean wave spectra from the North Atlantic Ocean. The calculated vertical displacements are compared with seismic data collected at stations in North America, Greenland, Iceland and Europe. This modelling identifies a particularly energetic source area stretching from the Labrador Sea to south of Iceland, where wind patterns are especially conducive to generating oppositely travelling waves of same period, and the ocean depth is favourable for efficient microseism generation through the ‘organ pipe’ resonance of the compression waves, as predicted by the theory. This correspondence between observations and the model predictions demonstrates that deep ocean nonlinear wave–wave interactions are sufficiently energetic to account for much of the observed seismic amplitudes in North America, Greenland and Iceland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Greenland Stoneley ENVELOPE(-58.120,-58.120,-63.864,-63.864) Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 464 2091 777 793 |
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Open Polar |
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Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
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ftcaltechauth |
language |
English |
description |
Oceanic microseisms are small oscillations of the ground, in the frequency range of 0.05–0.3 Hz, associated with the occurrence of energetic ocean waves of half the corresponding frequency. In 1950, Longuet-Higgins suggested in a landmark theoretical paper that (i) microseisms originate from surface pressure oscillations caused by the interaction between oppositely travelling components with the same frequency in the ocean wave spectrum, (ii) these pressure oscillations generate seismic Stoneley waves on the ocean bottom, and (iii) when the ocean depth is comparable with the acoustic wavelength in water, compressibility must be considered. The efficiency of microseism generation thus depends on both the wave frequency and the depth of water. While the theory provided an estimate of the magnitude of the corresponding microseisms in a compressible ocean, its predictions of microseism amplitude heretofore have never been tested quantitatively. In this paper, we show a strong agreement between observed microseism and calculated amplitudes obtained by applying Longuet-Higgins' theory to hindcast ocean wave spectra from the North Atlantic Ocean. The calculated vertical displacements are compared with seismic data collected at stations in North America, Greenland, Iceland and Europe. This modelling identifies a particularly energetic source area stretching from the Labrador Sea to south of Iceland, where wind patterns are especially conducive to generating oppositely travelling waves of same period, and the ocean depth is favourable for efficient microseism generation through the ‘organ pipe’ resonance of the compression waves, as predicted by the theory. This correspondence between observations and the model predictions demonstrates that deep ocean nonlinear wave–wave interactions are sufficiently energetic to account for much of the observed seismic amplitudes in North America, Greenland and Iceland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kedar, Sharon Longuet-Higgins, Michael Webb, Frank Graham, Nicholas Clayton, Robert Jones, Cathleen |
spellingShingle |
Kedar, Sharon Longuet-Higgins, Michael Webb, Frank Graham, Nicholas Clayton, Robert Jones, Cathleen The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
author_facet |
Kedar, Sharon Longuet-Higgins, Michael Webb, Frank Graham, Nicholas Clayton, Robert Jones, Cathleen |
author_sort |
Kedar, Sharon |
title |
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
origin of deep ocean microseisms in the north atlantic ocean |
publisher |
Royal Society of London |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/1/Kedar2008.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.120,-58.120,-63.864,-63.864) |
geographic |
Greenland Stoneley |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Stoneley |
genre |
Greenland Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34577/1/Kedar2008.pdf Kedar, Sharon and Longuet-Higgins, Michael and Webb, Frank and Graham, Nicholas and Clayton, Robert and Jones, Cathleen (2008) The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 464 (2091). pp. 777-793. ISSN 1364-5021. doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.0277. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121001-092904179> |
op_rights |
other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2007.0277 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
container_volume |
464 |
container_issue |
2091 |
container_start_page |
777 |
op_container_end_page |
793 |
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1766018105222365184 |