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Microseismological evidence for a changing wave climate in the northeast Atlantic Ocean

Author

Listed:
  • I. Grevemeyer

    (University of Bremen)

  • R. Herber

    (Geophysical Observatory, University of Hamburg)

  • H.-H. Essen

    (Institute of Oceanography, University of Hamburg)

Abstract

One possible consequence of a change in climate over the past several decades is an increase in wave heights, potentially threatening coastal areas as well as the marine industry1,2,3,4. But the difficulties in observing wave heights exacerbates a general problem of climate-change detection: inhomogeneities in long-term observational records owing to changes in the instruments or techniques used, which may cause artificial trends5,6. Ground movements with periods of 4–16 seconds, known as microseisms, are associated with ocean waves and coastal surf 7,8,9,10, and have been recorded continuously since the early days of seismology. Here we use such a 40-year record of wintertime microseisms from Hamburg, Germany, to reconstruct the wave climate in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. For the period 1954–77, we detect an average of seven days per month with strong microseismic activity, without a significant trend. This number increases significantly in the second half of the record, reaching approximately 14 days of strong microseisms per month. The implied increase in northeast Atlantic wave height over the past 20 years parallels increased surface air temperatures11 and storminess12 in this region, suggesting a common forcing.

Suggested Citation

  • I. Grevemeyer & R. Herber & H.-H. Essen, 2000. "Microseismological evidence for a changing wave climate in the northeast Atlantic Ocean," Nature, Nature, vol. 408(6810), pages 349-352, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:408:y:2000:i:6810:d:10.1038_35042558
    DOI: 10.1038/35042558
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    Cited by:

    1. Harrison, Gareth P. & Wallace, A. Robin, 2005. "Climate sensitivity of marine energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 1801-1817.
    2. Adem Akpınar & Bilal Bingölbali, 2016. "Long-term variations of wind and wave conditions in the coastal regions of the Black Sea," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 69-92, October.
    3. Mackay, Edward B.L. & Bahaj, AbuBakr S. & Challenor, Peter G., 2010. "Uncertainty in wave energy resource assessment. Part 2: Variability and predictability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1809-1819.
    4. Jianmin Lin & Sunke Fang & Runjing He & Qunshu Tang & Fengzhong Qu & Baoshan Wang & Wen Xu, 2024. "Monitoring ocean currents during the passage of Typhoon Muifa using optical-fiber distributed acoustic sensing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

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