Do hurricanes cause earthquakes? And why?

I thought the Mahdi

Associate Professor Wen Yuan Fan of the Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Florida coined the term `` cyclonic earthquakes '' to describe the geological phenomenon recently discovered by his team.It is a seismic event similar to earthquakes but occurs in conjunction with hurricanes or other strong storms.

Researchers from Florida State University have uncovered a new geophysical phenomenon in which a hurricane or other powerful storms could cause seismic movements in the near ocean with a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale.

The team attributed the simultaneous occurrence of earthquakes and hurricanes to the mutual impact between the atmosphere, Earth and the ocean, where hurricanes transfer energy in the storm season to the oceans and create strong waves that interact with the earth's crust on the bottom of the ocean, thus providing a source of intense seismic activity. This is in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Analysis of earthquakes of the last decade
Van and colleagues analyzed earthquakes and oceanographic records recorded over the past decade from September 2006 to February 2019, and found that there was a link between strong storms and intense seismic activity near the edge of the continental plates.

The researchers found evidence of more than 10,000 earthquakes between 2006 and 2019 off New England, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, and off Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and British Columbia in Canada.

Thus, the study proved that we could have seismic sources in the ocean similar to the sources of earthquakes within the Earth's crust. Cyclones can last for hours and maybe days.

Researchers have developed a new method for detecting seismic events, determining their location and identifying whether an event is a cyclone or an earthquake. It must occur during a stormy day, and must meet other geophysical standards in line with the requirements of the relationship between the force of a storm and the stimulation of an earthquake. Synchronous with it.

Thus, by adopting this innovative approach, scientists can rule out seismic events that are not within the scope of cyclones.

Examples of hurricanes coincided with earthquakes
To illustrate, the researchers cited several examples, including Hurricane Bell, which hit the Atlantic in 2009, accompanied by the occurrence of several seismic movements off the coast of New England and Nova Scotia, which in turn produced surface waves of intercontinental.

Similarly, Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused seismic activity in the Gulf of Mexico, and similarly, seismic activity was observed in conjunction with Hurricane Irene in 2011 off Florida.

Not every hurricane is a source of earthquakes
The researchers noted that despite the strength of some hurricanes, they were not associated with the occurrence of cyclones, and thus can not generalize their hypothesis to all hurricanes.

Scientists have found no evidence of earthquakes off Mexico or from New Jersey to Georgia in the United States, and even Hurricane Sandy, despite being one of the heaviest storms recorded in the United States, has not triggered earthquakes.

This confirms that the mechanism of the occurrence of cyclones is strongly affected by local ocean features and the topography of the sea, and researchers continue their efforts to characterize this new phenomenon and all the factors that can affect the mechanism of action.

The work is the result of the collaboration of researchers from the University of Florida and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, as well as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the US Geological Survey.