Abstract
Ocean waves interact with the solid Earth, generating two dominant
signals called microseisms, which carry information about energy
exchange between different Earth systems. Here, we show that 6C
(three-component translation and three-component rotation) observations
are able to resolve their seasonal azimuthal variations. We employ the
rotational motions retrieved by a small seismic array at the Pinon Flat
Observatory (PFO) to investigate the two dominant microseismic sources:
primary (10-20s) and secondary (3-10s) microseisms. The primary
microseismic Rayleigh waves show strong seasonal variations as expected,
whereas the secondary microseismic Rayleigh waves show slight seasonal
changes. In contrast, we find that secondary microseismic Love waves
exhibit considerable seasonality. This discrepancy from the secondary
microseismic Rayleigh waves provides us with new insights into the
generation mechanism of Love waves. In addition, the results suggest
that rotational motions of primary microseisms retrieved by the seismic
array are more sensitive to atmospheric pressure-induced ground
deformation.