Recordings of Long-Period Fluctuations Associated with the Passage of Three Distinct Tsunamis at Broadband Seismometers Made at the International Monitoring System (IMS) Hydroacoustic T-station H06 (Socorro Island, Mexico)

Abstract

In the wake of the very large Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004, and several subsequent events in the Pacific Ocean, scientific and disaster mitigation initiatives have taken place to better understand and observe tsunami propagation. This paper describes observations made on nearshore long‐period seismometers of a little known and, to our knowledge, recently discovered phenomenon associated with the passage of tsunamis near a coast. It provides further insight into this phenomenon. Observations of long‐period effects of the passage of tsunamis on the horizontal components of nearshore seismometers were initially made by Yuan et al. (2005). A quantitative assessment was first made by Okal (2007). These observations were made on the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. We observe similar long‐period oscillations for the tsunamigenic Maule, Chile, earthquake of 27 February 2010 at two broadband seismometers used as hydroacoustic T‐station of the International Monitoring System (IMS) network and located on Socorro Island, Mexico. Polarization and amplitude analysis of the long‐period arrivals on the two closely spaced seismometers allows us to propose an explanation for the polarization of observations that were not explained in Okal (2007). Our preferred interpretation of the phenomenon is that the surface of the island close to the shore is tilted by the loading from the local sea elevation change due to the passage of the long‐wavelength tsunami wave. Whereas Okal ignores the presence of the island in his physical analysis, this tilting of horizontal seismic sensors induced by this slow dynamic process explains observations from several tsunamis and we would expect similar observations on near‐coastal continental stations. This hypothesis is confirmed by the quantitative assessment and the analysis of the data at the …