Abstract
The horizontal records of ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) are usually
highly noisy, generally due to ocean-bottom currents tilting the
instrument, which greatly limits their practical usage in ocean-bottom
seismology. In shallow water, water waves with energy concentration
around 0.07~Hz induce additional noise on OBSs. Such
noise is not well understood. In this article, we propose a noise model
to explain the horizontal noise around 0.07 Hz. The noise model consists
of three types of noise, that is, water-wave-induced noise, other noise
with a relatively constant orientation, and background random noise. The
wave-induced horizontal acceleration is theoretically shown to be
proportional to the time derivative of ocean-bottom pressure. We
validate the noise model and related theories using realistic
observations. Results are potentially applicable to determine the
propagation direction of water waves nearshore, and also provide
constraints on the underlying Earth structure. The results can also be
applied to the removal of wave-induced noise, achieving a typical
maximum improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio of 10-20 dB for time
periods with strong wave noise.