What is "microbarom"

n. (context acoustics English) A kind of atmospheric infrasonic wave generated in marine storms by a non-linear interaction of ocean surface waves with the atmosphere.

In acoustics, microbaroms, also known as the "voice of the sea", are a class of atmospheric infrasonic waves generated in marine storms by a non-linear interaction of ocean surface waves with the atmosphere. They typically have narrow-band, nearly sinusoidal waveforms with amplitudes up to a few microbars, and wave periods near 5 seconds (0.2 hertz). Due to low atmospheric absorption at these low frequencies, microbaroms can propagate thousands of kilometers in the atmosphere, and can be readily detected by widely separated instruments on the Earth's surface.

Microbaroms are a significant noise source that can potentially interfere with the detection of infrasound from nuclear explosions that is a goal of the International Monitoring System organized under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (which has not entered into force). It is a particular problem for detecting low-yield tests in the one- kiloton range because the frequency spectra overlap.