Discrimination of Secondary Microseism Origins Using Ocean Tide Modulation

The ocean activity produces continuous and ubiquitous seismic energy mostly in the 2-20 s period band, also known as microseismic noise. The secondary microseisms (2-10 s period) are generated by swell reflections close to the shores and/or by opposing swells in the deep ocean. However, unique condi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Beucler, E., Mocquet, A., Schimmel, Martin, Chevrot, S., Vergne, Jérôme, Sylvander, Matthieu
Format: Conference Object
Language:unknown
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/130846
Description
Summary:The ocean activity produces continuous and ubiquitous seismic energy mostly in the 2-20 s period band, also known as microseismic noise. The secondary microseisms (2-10 s period) are generated by swell reflections close to the shores and/or by opposing swells in the deep ocean. However, unique conditions are required in order for surface waves, generated by deep-ocean microseisms, to be observed on land. Since both type of secondary microseisms (coastal or deep-ocean) can occur simultaneously at different places and are continuously evolving in terms of frequency, it is very difficult to discriminate them usgin seismic stations on land. By comparing short-duration power spectral densities at both Atlantic shoreline and inland seismic stations, we show that ocean tides strongly modulate the seismic energy in a wide period band except between 2.5 and 5 s. This tidal proxy reveals the existence of an ex situ short-period contribution of the secondary microseismic peak. Comparison with swell spectra at surrounding buoys suggests that the largest part of this extra energy comes from deep-ocean-generated microseisms. Focusing on two different storms which occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean, we show that both deep-ocean and coastal microseisms coexist. Peer Reviewed