Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will use a $475,435 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to measure abyssal warming with seismic Scholte waves. The institution will employ a novel method using Scholte waves excited by repeating natural submarine earthquakes to monitor global large-scale abyssal ocean warming. This will be done by systematically searching for shallow submarine repeating earthquakes since the 1980s. Scholte waves excited by these events travel along the seafloor, and their propagation speed is sensitive to abyssal temperatures. Measuring travel time changes between repeating events will allow the researchers to constrain abyssal temperature change. The sensitivity of Scholte waves to temperature will be modeled, and sensitivity kernels will be used to interpret measurements to infer average abyssal warming and quantify uncertainties. The results will complement hydrographic data to provide direct estimates of basin-scale abyssal ocean warming over recent decades. The award was granted on May 15, 2023 for a completion period ending April 30, 2026.
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