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Published online 8 January 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.422
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Ocean 'hum' hotspot located
Colliding waves in the North Atlantic can shake the Earth.
Researchers have located an area between the Labrador Sea and Iceland where waves collide and send vibrations to the ocean’s floor, creating a hum that can be detected for thousands of kilometres.
The results, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A1, confirm an old prediction that oceans can be powerful generators of seismic activity.
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One wonders about potential knock-on effects from global climate change when ocean waves, driven by wind and thermal gradients, are potetially correlated with seismic activity.