Meteotsunami on Lake Michigan: Trends and Teleconnections

Meteotsunami are waves in the tsunami frequency that are driven by meteorological phenomena. They occur regularly on large lakes and can be destructive, deadly, and pose risks to health and safety. The Great Lakes of the United States are a known hotspot for meteotsunami activity, yet substantial knowledge gaps exist regarding temporal variations and what role(s) large-scale climate drivers may play in meteotsunami occurrence. Wavelet analysis is used to identify meteotsunami activity at 8 NOAA NOS stations on Lake Michigan over the time period 1995 to 2022, and trends are identified in annual and monthly frequency. Coastal areas on the eastern side of Lake Michigan have seen significant trends in meteotsunami occurrences, although not all in the same direction. We also examine the importance of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic teleconnections via statistical modeling and show that the Pacific North American pattern and Arctic Oscillation are able to explain significant amounts of variability in monthly meteotsunami frequency.