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This study presents an approach to better characterize the P‐wave and S‐wave velocity structure of the seafloor sediment layer using ocean bottom seismometers. The presence of low‐velocity seafloor sediment layers influences the observed seismic record at the seafloor over a broad frequency range, such that detailed knowledge of this sediment structure is essential to predict its effect on teleseismic records. We use the radial component of teleseismic P waves and autocorrelation functions of the radial, vertical, and pressure components of teleseismic P and S waves to obtain sediment layer models using the Markov chain Monte Carlo approach with parallel tempering. Synthetic tests show that the body waves constrain the P‐ and S‐wave impedances and travel times and the P‐ to S‐wave velocity ratio of the sediment layers. The proposed method resolves thin layers at a high resolution, including the uppermost thin (∼50 m to a few hundred meters) low S‐wave velocity layer. Real data applications at sites across the Pacific Ocean that are coincident with previous in situ studies demonstrate the effectiveness of this method in characterizing the seafloor sediment unit. The sediment models characterized by this new approach will allow us to more accurately predict and correct the effects of sediment layers in generating P‐ and S‐wave reverberations. Plain Language Summary: Ocean bottom seismometers are powerful tools for investigating the detailed structure of the oceanic mantle. However, most ocean bottom seismometers are placed above the low‐velocity water‐saturated sediment layer, such that their seismic records are inevitably affected by this seafloor sediment layer. Detailed constraints on the structure of the seafloor sediment layer allow us to accurately predict its effects on the observed seismic records. The seafloor sediment layer may consist of multiple discontinuities and vary regionally. This study proposes a new approach for characterizing the seismic properties of the seafloor sediment layer using teleseismic body waves recorded at ocean bottom seismometers. Synthetic tests show that the method can resolve thin sublayers within the sediment layer, such as a very thin low shear‐wave velocity layer and sharp seismic velocity jumps. Real data applications show that the sediment models obtained using this approach are in good agreement with those obtained from direct measurements and previous body‐wave analyses. Our proposed method will enable more detailed prediction and correction of the influence of the sediment layer on ocean bottom seismometer records, thereby providing more accurate constraints on deeper Earth structures. Key Points: The seismic properties of the seafloor sediment layer are characterized using ocean bottom seismometer teleseismic body‐wave recordsThe P‐ and S‐wave impedances and travel times and the VP/VS values of each sublayer within the sediment layer are resolvedIn situ seafloor sediment structure constraints will enable accurate correction and prediction of shallow structure effects [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We recorded P and S waves traveling through the oceanic lithosphere-asthenosphere system (LAS) using broadband ocean-bottom seismometers in the northwest Pacific, and we quantitatively separated the intrinsic (anelastic) and extrinsic (scattering) attenuation effects on seismic wave propagation to directly infer the thermomechanical properties of the oceanic LAS.The strong intrinsic attenuation in the asthenosphere obtained at higher frequency (~3 hertz) is comparable to that constrained at lower frequency (~100 seconds) by surface waves and suggests frequency-independent anelasticity, whereas the intrinsic attenuation in the lithosphere is frequency dependent.This difference in frequency dependence indicates that the strong and broad peak dissipation recently observed in the laboratory exists only in the asthenosphere and provides new insight into what distinguishes the asthenosphere from the lithosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determination of a response of the sea water column to teleseismic plane wave is important to suppress adverse effects of water reverberations in calculating receiver functions (RFs) using ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) records. We present a novel non-linear waveform analysis method using the simulated annealing algorithm to determine such a water-layer response recorded by an OBS array. We then demonstrate its usefulness for the RF estimation through its application to synthetic and observed data. Synthetic experiments suggest that the water-layer response constrained in this way has a potential to improve RFs of OBS records drastically even in the high-frequency range (to 4 Hz). By applying it to data observed by the OBS array around the Kii Peninsula, southwestern Japan, we identified a low-velocity zone at the top of the subducting Philippine Sea plate. This zone may represent the incoming fluid-rich sediment layer that has been reported by active-source seismic survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]