Elastic waves in the seabed generated by low-frequency noise radiating from ships are known as ship seismic waves and can be used to detect and identify ships.To obtain the propagation characteristics of ship seismic waves,an algorithm for calculating seismic waves at the seafl oor is presented based on the staggered-grid fi nite diff erence method.The accuracy of the algorithm was tested by comparison with analytical solutions.Numerical simulation of seismic waves generated by a low-frequency point sound source in a typical shallow sea environment was carried out.Using various source frequencies and locations in the numerical simulation,we show that the seismic waves in the near fi eld are composed mostly of transmitted S-waves and interface waves while transmitted P-waves are weak near the seafl oor.However,in the far fi eld,the wave components of the seismic wave are mainly normal modes and interface waves,with the latter being relatively strong in the waveforms.As the source frequency decreases,the normal modes become smaller and the interface waves dominate the time series of the seismic waves. Elastic waves in the seabed generated by low-frequency noise radiating from ships are known as ship seismic waves and can be used to detect and identify ships. To obtain the propagation characteristics of ship seismic waves, an algorithm for calculating seismic waves at the seafl oor is presented based on the staggered-grid fi nite diff erence method. The accuracy of the algorithm was tested by comparison with analytical solutions. Numerical simulation of seismic waves generated by a low-frequency point sound source in a typical shallow sea environment was carried out .Using various sources frequencies and locations in the numerical simulation, we show that the seismic waves in the near fi eld are composed mostly of transmitted S-waves and interface waves while transmitted P-waves are weak near the sea oor. However, in the far fi eld, the wave components of the seismic wave are mainly normal modes and interface waves, with the latter in relatively strong in the waveforms. As the source freque ncy decreases, the normal modes become smaller and the interface waves dominate the time series of the seismic waves.