Precision measurement of ocean tides using cosmic-ray muons

Abstract

Cosmic-ray muons provide a natural probe of the integrated mass along their trajectories. Here we show that cosmic-ray muons can monitor ocean-tide-induced variations in seawater overburden within an underwater tunnel. The observed modulation closely tracks independent tide-gauge measurements, yielding an attenuation response coefficient of k=43.2±1.0~counts/h/m and resolving meter-scale variations in seawater overburden. A spatial muography scan validates the overburden model, confirming that the seawater contribution is essential to reproduce the observed attenuation. Unlike conventional tide gauges that measure sea level locally, muography measures the integrated overburden above the detector. These results demonstrate that muography can quantitatively resolve small, time-dependent variations in environmental overburden, providing a new approach to monitoring dynamic natural systems.

Resonant lunar tides of Earth's core and basal magma ocean
Murray B. C. Kiernan, Hamish C. F. C. Hay, David W. Rees Jones +2
arXiv20 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY-SA 4.0Full textPlanetary science & exoplanets Geophysics & seismologyarXiv
Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Density in the Spiral Arms toward Galactic Anticenter
Jia-hao Liu, Bing Liu, Rui-zhi Yang
arXiv14 Sep 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textHigh-energy astrophysicsarXiv
Operator‑Spectral Geometry of Rotational Gravity: χ‑Modular Curvature, Spectral Flow, and the Precision Lense–Thirring Measurement of LARES‑2
Anatolii Mukha
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)4 Aug 2026PreprintCC BY14 citedGeneral astronomyOpenAlex
Neutron Star--Primordial Black Hole Binaries: Dynamical Tides, Resonance Locking, and Gravitational Waves
Isaac Legred, Nicolás Yunes
arXiv23 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textHigh-energy astrophysics Gravitation & general relativityarXiv
Nonlinear Tides of Binary Neutron Stars
Guangzhou Guo, Zhen Pan
arXiv26 Oct 2026PreprintarXiv licenceFull textHigh-energy astrophysics Gravitation & general relativityarXiv

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{seo2026precision,
  title = {{Precision measurement of ocean tides using cosmic-ray muons}},
  author = {Jiwon Seo and Jongseok Chung and Chang Hyon Ha and TongZhou Huang and Jinyoung Kim and Sooa Kim and Hani Kimku and Byoung-cheol Koh and Minsu Kwak and Sihyun Lee and Yujin Lee},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.05294},
  eprint = {2610.05294},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05294},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Precision measurement of ocean tides using cosmic-ray muons
AU  - Jiwon Seo
AU  - Jongseok Chung
AU  - Chang Hyon Ha
AU  - TongZhou Huang
AU  - Jinyoung Kim
AU  - Sooa Kim
AU  - Hani Kimku
AU  - Byoung-cheol Koh
AU  - Minsu Kwak
AU  - Sihyun Lee
AU  - Yujin Lee
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/04
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.05294
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05294
AB  - Cosmic-ray muons provide a natural probe of the integrated mass along their trajectories. Here we show that cosmic-ray muons can monitor ocean-tide-induced variations in seawater overburden within an underwater tunnel. The observed modulation closely tracks independent tide-gauge measurements, yielding an attenuation response coefficient of k=43.2±1.0~counts/h/m and resolving meter-scale variations in seawater overburden. A spatial muography scan validates the overburden model, confirming that the seawater contribution is essential to reproduce the observed attenuation. Unlike conventional tide gauges that measure sea level locally, muography measures the integrated overburden above the detector. These results demonstrate that muography can quantitatively resolve small, time-dependent variations in environmental overburden, providing a new approach to monitoring dynamic natural systems.
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite