Waves

As oceans waves rise and fall, they apply forces to the sea floor below and generate seismic waves. These seismic waves are so powerful and widespread that they show up as a steady thrum on seismographs, the same instruments used to monitor and study earthquakes. That wave signal has been getting more intense in recent decades, reflecting increasingly stormy seas and higher ocean swell. In a new study in the journal Nature Communications, colleagues and I tracked that increase around the world over the past four decades. These global data, along with other ocean, satellite and regional seismic studies, show a decadeslong increase in wave energy that coincides with increasing storminess attributed to rising global temperatures. What seismology has to do with ocean waves Global seismographic networks are best known for monitoring and studying earthquakes and for allowing scientists to create images of the planet’s deep interior. These highly sensitive instruments continu...

If you’ve ever waded into the ocean for a swim and suddenly realized that the shore is getting farther away, not closer, you may have encountered a rip current. Common at beaches worldwide, these powerful currents flow from the shore toward the sea at speeds up to several feet per second. It’s important to know what rip currents are and how to look for them, because they are a leading cause of drownings in the surf zone near shore. According to one recent estimate, rip currents have accounted for 435 drownings in the U.S. since 2017. National Weather Service offices that serve coastal communities issue forecasts that predict where and when rip currents are likely to occur. Those forecasts draw on decades of research into the physics of rip currents. Many scholars, including our research group, are finding innovative ways to discover more about rip currents – including their important roles in coastal marine ecosystems. Rip currents a...