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Using hydroacoustic stations as water column seismometers
Author(s) -
Yildiz Selda,
Sabra Karim,
Dorman LeRoy M.,
Kuperman W. A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/grl.50371
Subject(s) - seismometer , hydrophone , geology , seismogram , seismology , broadband , channel (broadcasting) , microseism , water column , remote sensing , oceanography , telecommunications , computer science
Getting seismic data from the deep oceans usually involves ocean‐bottom seismometers, but hydrophone arrays may provide a practical alternative means of obtaining vector data. We here explore this possibility using hydrophone stations of the International Monitoring System, which have been used to study icebergs and T‐wave propagation among others. These stations consist of three hydrophones at about the depth of the deep sound channel in a horizontal triangle array with 2 km sides. We use data from these stations in the very low‐frequency regime (0.01–0.05 Hz band) to demonstrate that these stations can also be used as water column seismometers. By differencing the acoustic pressure, we obtain vector quantities analogous to what a seismometer would record. Comparing processed hydrophone station records of the 2004 Great Sumatra‐Andaman Earthquake with broadband seismograms from a nearby island station, we find that the differenced hydrophones are indeed a practical surrogate for seismometers.