Extreme Ocean Storms On the Rise, Tremors Show

Extreme ocean storms have ramped up in frequency over the past 30 years, according to new research based on small tremors.

The faint tremors, called microseisms, are periodic movements of Earth’s surface that can last anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds.
“The gist is that we monitor pervasive seismic tremors observed around the world that arise from wind-generated waves to [assess] Earth’s wave climate,” said study co-author Richard Aster, a geophysics professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

The new findings, while still in their early stages, could be used to test long-held theories about whether global warming leads to more violent ocean storms, Aster added.

National Geographic