Empirical and Numerical Modeling of T-phase Propagation from Ocean to Land

--T-phase propagation from ocean onto land is investigated by comparing data from hydrophones in the water column with data from the same events recorded on island and coastal seismometers. Several events located on Hawaii and the emerging seamount Loihi generated very large amplitude T phases that were recorded at both the preliminary IMS hydrophone station at Point Sur and land-based stations along the northern California coast. We use data from seismic stations operated by U. C. Berkeley along the coast of California, and from the PG&E coastal California seismic network, to estimate the T-phase transfer functions. The transfer function and predicted signal from the Loihi events are modeled with a composite technique, using normal mode-based numerical propagation codes to calculate the hydroacoustic pressure field and an elastic finite difference code to calculate the seismic propagation to la nd-based stations. The modal code is used to calculate the acoustic pressure and particle velocity fields in the ocean off the California coast, which is used as input to the finite difference code TRES to model propagation onto land. We find both empirically and in the calculations that T phases observed near the conversion point consist primarily of surface waves, although the T phases propagate as P waves after the surface waves attenuate. Surface wave conversion occurs farther offshore and over a longer region than body wave conversion, which has the effect that surface waves may arrive at coastal stations before body waves. We also look at the nature of T phases after conversion from ocean to land by examining far inland T phases. We find that T phases propagate primarily as P waves once they are well inland from the coast, and can be observed in some cases hundreds of kilometers inland. T-phase conversion at tenuates higher frequencies, however we find that high frequency energy from underwater explosion sources can still be observed at T-phase stations.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]