Deep water velocities and particle displacements induced by acoustic-gravity waves from submarine earthquakes

An uplift of the ocean bottom caused by a submarine earthquake can generate Acoustic-Gravity Waves (AGW), progressive compression-type waves that travel at near the speed of sound in water. The role of AGW for oceans hydrodynamics has recently became a topic of increasing scientific interest. Kadri [Deep ocean water transport by acoustic-gravity waves, J.Geo. Res. Oceans, 119, (2014)] showed theoretically that AGW can contribute to deep ocean currents and circulation.

We analyze and simulate the fundamental AGW modes generated by a submarine earthquake. We consider the first five AGW modes and show that they may all induce comparable temporal variations in water particle velocities at different depths in regions far from the epicenter. Results of temporal variations of horizontal and vertical fluid parcel velocities induced by AGW confirm chaotic flow trajectories at different water depths. A realistic example based on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake shows that vertical water particle displacements of O(10^-2 ) m can be generated at 1 Km depth in a 4 km water depth ocean.

We show that the velocity field depends on the presence of the leading AGW modes. Each AGW mode becomes evanescent at a critical time, at which energy is transferred to the next higher modes. Consequently, the main pattern of the velocity field changes as the leading mode change. As an example, for a reference point located at 1000 Km from the epicenter, the first five AGW become evanescent after 1.6, 4.6, 7.7, 10.8 and 13.8 hours, respectively.

Our analysis and simulations shed light on the spatio-temporal evolution of the deep water velocities and particle displacements induced by AGW that radiate during submarine earthquakes. Thus, this work is a contribution to understand the role of high moment magnitude submarine earthquakes in deep water mixing mechanism.