Earth is taking a pounding from bigger ocean waves. Why this matters.

When an ocean wave falls, the ground shakes. Now, those wobbles are getting bigger.

Stormier seas and larger ocean swell in recent decades are pounding Earth’s seafloor with more force, sending larger ripples through Earth’s crust — almost like a tiny, tiny, tiny earthquake. The biggest wave energy increases, as measured with a seismometer, appear in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to recent research.