Surf Infrasound at Moorea

In order to further our understanding of the relationship between breaking ocean waves and infrasound, we conducted an experiment on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia . The Temae reef on the northeast coast of Moorea provided a well constrained experimental environment where individual breaking waves could be identified and recorded. The steep bathymetry and proximity to land of the reef shelf permitted synchronous wave height, infrasonic, seismic, and visual recordings of individual waves breaking against the shallow reef ledge. We characterize a source mechanism for surf infrasound and demonstrate the capability to acoustically track alongshore traveling (peeling) plunging waves. More detailed results will be presented soon.