Quantifying the influence of sea ice on ocean microseism using observations from the Bering Sea, Alaska

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Tsai, Victor C., McNamara, Daniel E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2011
• Subjects: Alaska; climate monitoring; microseism; sea ice; Bering Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL049791

Microseism is potentially affected by all processes that alter ocean wave heights. Because strong sea ice prevents large ocean waves from forming, sea ice can therefore significantly affect microseism amplitudes. Here we show that this link between sea ice and microseism is not only a robust one but can be quantified. In particular, we show that 75–90% of the variability in microseism power in the Bering Sea can be predicted using a fairly crude model of microseism damping by sea ice. The success of this simple parameterization suggests that an even stronger link can be established between the mechanical strength of sea ice and microseism power, and that microseism can eventually be used to monitor the strength of sea ice, a quantity that is not as easily observed through other means. This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 2011 by the American Geophysical Union. Received 23 September 2011; revised 21 October 2011; accepted 23 October 2011; published 19 November 2011. The authors thank A. T. Ringler, S. O'Neel, F. Walter, P. D. Bromirski, V. Schlindwein, and S. Kedar for helpful comments. We also thank the Alaska Earthquake Information Center and the National Ice Center for providing the data used. This research was supported by the Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship program of the United States Geological Survey. The Editor thanks two anonymous reviewers for their assistance in evaluating this paper. Published - Tsai2011p16566Geophys_Res_Lett.pdf