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Infrasound from large surf
Author(s) -
Garcés M.,
Aucan J.,
Fee D.,
Caron P.,
Merrifield M.,
Gibson R.,
Bhattacharyya J.,
Shah S.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2005gl025085
Subject(s) - infrasound , surf zone , geology , swell , seismology , shore , amplitude , breaking wave , sound (geography) , wind wave , sound wave , meteorology , oceanography , acoustics , wave propagation , physics , optics
Simultaneous infrasonic, visual, and ocean‐bottom pressure sensor observations of large swells on the island of Kauai and small to medium‐sized surf on the island of Hawaii yielded a clear relationship between breaking wave height and low‐frequency atmospheric sound amplitudes in the 1–20 Hz frequency range. These experiments confirmed that infrasound can be generated by barreling waves as well as by waves crashing against rocky shorelines and exposed ledges. As will be demonstrated in a companion paper, breaking wave period may also be extracted from infrasound data. The results of these experiments demonstrate that low‐frequency sound may be used for real‐time estimates of the amplitude, period, and spatial distribution of surf in the littoral zone, with a potential application to the identification of breaking wave types.