Japanese scientists detect rare, deep-Earth tremor

MIAMI —

Scientists who study earthquakes in Japan have detected a rare deep-Earth tremor for the first time and traced its location to a distant and powerful storm.

The findings, published in the U.S. journal Science, could help experts learn more about the Earth’s inner structure and improve detection of earthquakes and oceanic storms.

The storm in the North Atlantic was known as a “weather bomb,” a small but potent storm that gains punch as pressure quickly mounts.

Groups of waves sloshed and pounded the ocean floor during the storm, which struck between Greenland and Iceland.

Using seismic equipment on land and on the seafloor that usually detects the Earth’s crust crumbling during earthquakes, researchers found something they had not detected before—a tremor known as an S wave microseism.

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