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This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.

Seismologists spend a lot of time listening to the earth. Ocean acoustic¹ monitors have been providing information on the earth’s vibrations² since the 1930s. But there are other sound these monitors pick up as well, for instance, those of waves and choppy waters. These sounds are usually considered just noise and are filtered out of the equation, but researchers now realize that paying attention to what was previously³ considered noise can help monitor global climate change. That’s according to a study in a recent issue of the Journal Science. In shallow coastal⁴ waters, the breaking waves directly hit the ground and cause vibrations. In deeper waters, waves traveling in nearly opposite directions create a pulse that travels all the way to the ocean floor and causes new vibrations that can travel long distances. Measured at 30-second intervals⁵, these are called microseisms. They’re unique and not detectable⁶ on land and they can help us understand more about the frequency, intensity⁷ and duration of storms. An 80-year archive of acoustic information already exists. The links, stability and regularity⁸ give these data a leg-up over a sometimes spotty historical scientific climate record, another tool to understand more about our changing climate.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.