Seismic Remote Sensing of Super Typhoon Lupit (2009) with Seismological Array Observation in NE China

Abstract

The p-wave double-frequency (DF) microseisms generated by super typhoon Lupit (14-26 October 2009) over the western Pacific Ocean were detected by an on-land seismological array deployed in Northeastern China. We applied a frequency-domain beamforming method to investigate their source regions. Comparing with the best-track data and satellite observations, the located source regions of the p-wave DF microseisms, which corresponded to the strongest ocean wave-wave interactions, were found to be comparable to the typhoon centers in the microseismic frequency band of~0.18-0.21 Hz. The p-wave DF microseisms were probably excited by the nonlinear interaction of ocean waves generated by the typhoon at different times, in good agreement with the Longuet-Higgins theory for the generation of DF microseisms. The localization deviation, which was~120 km for typhoon Lupit in this study, might depend on the speed and direction of typhoon movement, the geometry of the seismological array, and the heterogeneity of the solid Earth structure. The p-wave DF microseisms generated in coastal source regions were also observed in the beamformer outputs, but with relatively lower dominant frequency band of~0.14-0.16 Hz. These observations show that the p-wave DF microseisms generated near typhoon centers could be used as a seismic remote sensing proxy to locate and track typhoons over the oceans from under water in a near-real-time and continuous manner.

Seismological Observations of Ocean Swells Induced by Typhoon Megi Using Dispersive Microseisms Recorded in Coastal Areas

“…In their classification, Class-I microseisms are produced by interactions between opposing ocean waves generated by a rapidly moving typhoon at different times, Class-II microseisms are caused by the interaction between typhoon-induced swells incident on coasts and their coastal reflections, and Class-III microseisms arise from interactions between ocean waves generated by two distinct typhoons. DF microseisms could be used to monitor typhoons and to track typhoon-induced swells [25,28,[34][35][36], because typhoon-induced swells are dispersive surface gravity waves that propagate in deep water over long distances. The swells can reach and impact coastlines, generating dispersive DF microseisms due to interactions between incident swells and opposing components from coastal reflection.…”

Modeling Microseism Generation by Inhomogeneous Ocean Surface Waves in Hurricane Bonnie Using the Non-Linear Wave Equation

“…Hurricanes generate seismic noise, commonly referred to as microseisms, in the 0.1 to 0.6 Hz frequency range. On a few occasions measurements of these microseisms have been used to track hurricanes [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. More generally these microseisms are a significant cause of noise in seismic measurements [7,9,10] and raise the detection threshold for monitoring earthquakes [11].…”

Monitoring ocean currents during the passage of Typhoon Muifa using optical-fiber distributed acoustic sensing

“…Gutenberg 14 suggested that microseisms could be used in weather forecasting, and Grevemeyer et al 15 reconstructed the wave climate in the northeast Atlantic Ocean using a 40-year record of wintertime microseisms at Hamburg, Germany. TCs over the oceans have been remotely located and tracked via microseism-based techniques, such as array beamforming [16][17][18][19][20] .…”