The Pacific Ocean, seen here from the International Space Station, hosts wave-generating storms that appear to indirectly cause infragravity waves, the hypothesized source for the secondary microseism, or Earth’s hum, according to Maurya et al. (201…

The Pacific Ocean, seen here from the International Space Station, hosts wave-generating storms that appear to indirectly cause infragravity waves, the hypothesized source for the secondary microseism, or Earth’s hum, according to Maurya et al. (2019). Credit: NASA, Public Domain

The hum of the earth


By Alka Tripathy-Lang and Wendy Bohon

July 5, 2019

Hidden amidst the tumult of seismic data generated by earthquakes, explosions and other earth-shaking phenomena is a quiet hum. Discovered relatively recently, this hum is Earth’s background noise, and it originates within the oceans.   

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