Seismo-acoustic signatures from near surface phenomena

Among numerous sources emitting pressure waves a few are known to generate acoustic signals both in the earth, as seismic waves, and in the atmosphere, as infrasound, which were recorded over large distances. Those sources are near surface phenomena like volcanic eruptions, explosions, and ocean waves, which all occur at the boundary between the solid earth and the atmosphere, either shallow above or below the ground and the ocean surface, respectively. The aim of the presentation is to provide an overview of such phenomena. Therefore examples are given showing the close connection of seismic waves and infrasound: the infrasonic and seismic activities in Europe dominated by quarry blasts, the Buncefi eld accidental explosions, the Tarapaca earthquake, and the North Atlantic’s ocean swell. Moreover, this expanded abstract contains an overview on infrasound being not part of the presentation. The overview starts with a short history of infrasound, which underlines that the strongest developments have recently been made since infrasound is a verifi cation technology for nuclear-test-ban treaty monitoring. It also gives an introduction to basic physical principles of sound propagation in the atmosphere along with its peculiarities caused by an anisotropic four-dimensional moving media.