The newly identified natural phenomenon is the result of powerful storms transferring some of the vast amounts of energy that they produce into the Earth's crust.
"We're calling them 'stormquakes,'" Fuan said in a statement."During a storm season, hurricanes or nor'easters transfer energy into the ocean as strong ocean waves, and the waves interact with the solid earth producing intense seismic source activity."
Analysis of these figures using a newly developed method revealed that more than 10,000 vibrations, or stormquakes, had occurred in the ocean floor near the edge of continental shelves and ocean banks off the shores of New England, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, as well as the waters of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and British Columbia in Canada.
The stormquakes that the team documented measured as much as 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale which would make them about the same strength as minor earthquakes. The scientists also found that these stormquakes can last for a relatively long time. It is still not clear exactly why some storms produce stormquakes and some do not. For example, the powerful Category 3 Hurricane Sandy did not produce any stormquakes. Furthermore, the phenomenon only seems to occur in certain areas, with the researchers not detecting any in the waters off Mexico, for example.
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