Listen to waves crashing on the coast and you can truly feel the power of storms. As the waves smash into the ground they set the Earth ringing with vibrations, not just along the shore but also far inland.

This seismic noise was a nuisance for geologists who normally listen for the seismic signature tunes of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes.

But now the scientists realise that tuning in to the rumbles of waves translates into the power of storms at sea. And when they looked back at readings from 22 seismic monitoring stations around the world, they realised they had a treasure-trove of information about stormy seas going back for decades. Of all the stations, Hawaii gave the best information because it is battered by swells from storms delivered from all over the Pacific. But even a monitoring station in the desert in New Mexico picked up the ocean waves.

In fact, the pattern of vibrations from ocean waves is so clear they reveal individual hurricanes, the storm seasons and El Niño. But the biggest surprise was looking back through archives of seismic readings and finding a disturbing pattern – the power of storms has been growing stronger at all the seismic stations. This is the sort of pattern feared, as oceans grow stormier as the world heats up.