Infrasound and seismic waves reveal the unseen forces shaping coastal conditions.
Infrasound and seismic waves reveal the unseen forces shaping coastal conditions.
Along the coast, waves break with a familiar sound. The gentle swash of the surf on the seashore can lull us to sleep, while the pounding of storm surge warns us to seek shelter.
Yet these are but a sample of the sounds that come from the coast. Most of the acoustic energy from the surf is far too low in frequency for us to hear, traveling through the air as infrasound and through the ground as seismic waves.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have recently characterized these low-frequency signals to track breaking ocean waves. In a study published in Geophysical Journal International, they were able to identify the acoustic and seismic signatures of breaking waves and locate where along the coast the signals came from. The team hopes to develop this into a method for monitoring the sea conditions using acoustic and seismic data.
Read More: University of California - Santa Barbara
Photo Credit: jpdvg via Pixabay
