← Back to Sessions

Climate Change Seismology

Description: 

The ubiquity of elastic wave energy in the solid Earth, oceans, and atmosphere and the growth of well-calibrated and otherwise high-quality global and freely accessible seismic data provide distinctive opportunities to measure and interpret multiscale signatures of climate change in the seismographic record. It was well known by the late 19^th century that Earth experiences a continuous seismic excitation between approximately 8 and 30 s period. Corresponding oceanic microseism source and wave propagation processes were observationally and theoretically clarified by the mid 20^th century and have appreciably advanced during the past decade. The microseism is a unique integrative proxy for ocean forcing of the solid Earth and the primary microseism in particular displays significant widespread secular changes spanning the past several decades attributed to increased wave energy in coastal regions. Another growing field of climate-associated seismology has evolved with recent general advances in cryoseismology ranging from the global observation of large-scale calving trends to studies of evolving firn, glacial, hydrological, and permafrost cryosystems. Transformative developments in data collection and “noise”-based time-lapse methods facilitate the study of cryosphere and hydrologic change via interpretations of seismic velocity variations driven by temperature, englacial or subglacial hydrology, and other seasonal and secular processes. Recent demonstration of ocean thermometry using near-repeating earthquakes and T phase propagation is further noteworthy given its emergent capability for resolving deep sea temperature change. In association with an ever-growing and globally integrated seismological data archive, and accelerating efforts in water column and seafloor global ocean seismic instrumentation, studies of ocean-sensitive signals offer particular promise for transdisciplinary oceanographic, climate, acoustical, and seismological collaborations and progress in understanding the evolving state of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere.

Session: Monitoring Climate Change With Seismology

Type: Oral

Date: 4/18/2023

Presentation Time: 10:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Richard C. Aster

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: Yes

Authors