Project: Noise in the ocean: Monitoring anthropogenic pollution and natural noise in the sea

Host Institution: GEOMAR Kiel, Germany

My research objectives: My research is focused mainly on investigations involving the understanding of the geodynamic behavior of oceanic transform faults (OTF) from seismological observations and analysis. Earthquakes occurring at the seafloor over the OTFs produce not only the seismic waves propagating in solid earth but also sound environmental effects along the seawater column. These hydroacoustic waves are called T-waves, which can be used for multiple different types of investigation, including earthquakes, seafloor landslides, seafloor volcano activity, or iceberg breaking. Along with my PhD, I am using both T-wave and seismic waves to improve the understanding of the OTF. Recently, I used hydroacoustic signals to investigate oceanic strike-slip ruptures and identified that ruptures in OTFs are longer than in continental transform faults (http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112891). As part of my PhD, I will work through an internship at the National Geological Survey of Norway, in 2025. I intend to use both seismic waves and INSAR images to investigate the landslides that possibly occurred in the Jan Mayer volcano island after a strong Mw 6.8 earthquake occurred in the Jan Mayer transform fault.

Publications

Relationship Between Rupture Length and Magnitude of Oceanic Transform Fault Earthquakes, published in Geophysical Research Letters by Guilherme W.S de Melo, Ingo Grevemeyer, Dietrich Lange, Dirk Metz and Heidrun Kopp