Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Near-surface seismic anisotropy in Antarctic glacial snow and ice revealed by high-frequency ambient noise

Journal Article · · Journal of Glaciology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.98· OSTI ID:2424542
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Texas, El Paso, TX (United States)
  2. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
  5. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  6. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA (United States)
  7. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Ambient seismic recordings taken at broad locations across Ross Ice Shelf and a dense array near West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide, Antarctica, show pervasive temporally variable resonance peaks associated with trapped seismic waves in near-surface firn layers. These resonance peaks feature splitting on the horizontal components, here interpreted as frequency-dependent anisotropy in the firn and underlying ice due to several overlapping mechanisms driven by ice flow. Frequency peak splitting magnitudes and fast/slow axes were systematically estimated at single stations using a novel algorithm and compared with good agreement with active source anisotropy measurements at WAIS Divide determined via active sources recorded on a 1 km circular array. The approach was further applied to the broad Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) array, where anisotropy axes were directly compared with visible surface features and ice shelf flow lines. The near-surface firn, depicted by anisotropy above 30 Hz, was shown to exhibit a novel plastic stretching mechanism of anisotropy, whereby the fast direction in snow aligns with accelerating ice shelf flow.
Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, El Paso, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI ID:
2424542
Journal Information:
Journal of Glaciology, Journal Name: Journal of Glaciology Journal Issue: 276 Vol. 69; ISSN 0022-1430
Publisher:
International Glaciological Society - Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (80)

Anisotropy and crystalline fabric of Whillans Ice Stream (West Antarctica) inferred from multicomponent seismic data: ANISOTROPY AND CRYSTALLINE FABRIC OF WIS journal June 2015
Ross ice shelf vibrations journal September 2015
Accelerated ice shelf rifting and retreat at Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica journal November 2016
Cryoseismology: CRYOSEISMOLOGY journal October 2016
Dynamic (in)stability of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica: THWAITES DYNAMICS journal May 2013
Modeling subglacial water routing at Paakitsoq, W Greenland: MODELING SUBGLACIAL ROUTING IN GREENLAND journal July 2013
A review of ice rheology for ice sheet modelling journal July 1989
Investigation of snow sintering at microstructural scale from micro-penetration tests journal June 2019
Ice shelf disintegration by plate bending and hydro-fracture: Satellite observations and model results of the 2008 Wilkins ice shelf break-ups journal April 2009
Environmental seismology: What can we learn on earth surface processes with ambient noise? journal May 2015
Quantifying vulnerability of Antarctic ice shelves to hydrofracture using microwave scattering properties journal June 2018
Structural provinces of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica journal July 2017
Crevasse-induced Rayleigh-wave azimuthal anisotropy on Glacier de la Plaine Morte, Switzerland journal November 2018
Ocean-excited plate waves in the Ross and Pine Island Glacier ice shelves journal September 2018
Annual cycle in flow of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica: contribution of variable basal melting journal August 2020
Seismic observations of a complex firn structure across the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica journal March 2021
The near-coastal microseism spectrum: Spatial and temporal wave climate relationships journal January 2002
Mid-ocean microseisms: MID-OCEAN MICROSEISMS journal April 2005
Glacier acceleration and thinning after ice shelf collapse in the Larsen B embayment, Antarctica journal January 2004
Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf journal January 2004
A nonsteady‐state firn‐densification model for the percolation zone of a glacier journal September 2008
Transoceanic infragravity waves impacting Antarctic ice shelves: IG-WAVES IMPACTING ANTARCTIC ICE SHELVES journal January 2010
Basal crevasses on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica: Implications for meltwater ponding and hydrofracture: BASAL CREVASSES AND SURFACE EXPRESSIONS journal August 2012
Ice Shelf Rift Propagation and the Mechanics of Wave‐Induced Fracture journal June 2018
Near‐Surface Environmentally Forced Changes in the Ross Ice Shelf Observed With Ambient Seismic Noise journal October 2018
High Temporal Resolution Monitoring of Small Variations in Crustal Strain by Dense Seismic Arrays journal January 2019
Seismic Noise Interferometry Reveals Transverse Drainage Configuration Beneath the Surging Bering Glacier journal May 2019
Tidal and Thermal Stresses Drive Seismicity Along a Major Ross Ice Shelf Rift journal June 2019
Ross Ice Shelf Icequakes Associated With Ocean Gravity Wave Activity journal August 2019
Interrogating a Surging Glacier With Seismic Interferometry journal July 2019
Multidecadal Basal Melt Rates and Structure of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Using Airborne Ice Penetrating Radar journal March 2020
Diagnosing Thwaites journal January 2020
Unsupervised Deep Clustering of Seismic Data: Monitoring the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica journal September 2021
Seismic-wave velocities in anisotropic ice: A comparison of measured and calculated values in and around the deep drill hole at Byrd Station, Antarctica journal August 1972
The azimuthal dependence of Love and Rayleigh wave propagation in a slightly anisotropic medium journal June 1973
Quantitative measurements of shear wave polarizations at the Anza Seismic Network, southern California: Implications for shear wave splitting and earthquake prediction journal January 1990
Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years journal February 2016
January 2016 extensive summer melt in West Antarctica favoured by strong El Niño journal June 2017
Marine ice regulates the future stability of a large Antarctic ice shelf journal April 2014
Towards forecasting volcanic eruptions using seismic noise journal January 2008
Impacts of warm water on Antarctic ice shelf stability through basal channel formation journal March 2016
Mechanics of Deformation and Acoustic Propagation in Porous Media journal April 1962
Measurement of tortuosity of anisotropic acoustic materials journal October 1995
Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from 1979–2017 journal January 2019
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment journal September 2020
Snow as a foam of ice: Plasticity, fracture and the brittle-to-ductile transition journal September 2001
Empirical angle-dependent Biot and MBA models for acoustic anisotropy in cancellous bone journal December 2006
Ice shelf structure derived from dispersion curve analysis of ambient seismic noise, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica journal February 2016
Higher-mode ambient-noise Rayleigh waves in sedimentary basins journal June 2016
The inversion of spectral ratio H/V in a layered system using the diffuse field assumption (DFA) journal November 2016
Azimuthal anisotropy of Rayleigh-wave phase velocities in the east-central United States journal June 2008
Characterization of shallow geology by high-frequency seismic noise tomography journal January 2009
Acoustic anisotropy in bovine cancellous bone journal May 1998
Acoustical and mechanical characterization of anisotropic open-cell foams journal November 1998
Monitoring southwest Greenland’s ice sheet melt with ambient seismic noise journal May 2016
Ice-shelf retreat drives recent Pine Island Glacier speedup journal June 2021
Volume loss from Antarctic ice shelves is accelerating journal March 2015
Pervasive ice sheet mass loss reflects competing ocean and atmosphere processes journal June 2020
Ground-penetrating radar profiles of the McMurdo Shear Zone, Antarctica, acquired with an unmanned rover: Interpretation of crevasses, fractures, and folds within firn and marine ice journal January 2016
Perturbational and nonperturbational inversion of Rayleigh-wave velocities journal May 2017
Depth and Density of the Antarctic Firn Layer journal May 2008
Solving the Surface-Wave Eigenproblem with Chebyshev Spectral Collocation journal June 2012
The Seismic Noise Environment of Antarctica journal November 2014
Swell-Triggered Seismicity at the Near-Front Damage Zone of the Ross Ice Shelf journal April 2021
High-frequency analysis of seismic background noise as a function of wind speed and shallow depth journal October 1996
Ambient seismic wave field journal January 2017
An investigation into the forces that drive ice-shelf rift propagation on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica journal January 2008
An empirical firn-densification model comprising ice lenses journal January 2005
Phase structure of radar stratigraphic horizons within Antarctic firn journal January 2005
Simple relations for the close-off depth and age in dry-snow densification journal January 2008
A millennium of variable ice flow recorded by the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica journal January 2000
Elastic properties of snow-ice formations in their whole density range journal January 1998
Influence of ice crystal anisotropy on seismic velocity analysis journal January 2014
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse journal January 2014
A porosity-based Biot model for acoustic waves in snow journal January 2015
Origin and dynamic significance of longitudinal structures ("flow stripes") in the Antarctic Ice Sheet journal April 2015
A statistical fracture model for Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers journal October 2018
Rapid and accurate polarimetric radar measurements of ice crystal fabric orientation at the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core site journal August 2021
Present and future variations in Antarctic firn air content journal September 2014
GPS-Measured Ice Velocities and Strain Data from the Ross and Amundsen Sea Ice Flow Divide, West Antarctica dataset January 2011

Similar Records

Nitrate signal of solar flares in polar snow and ice. Annual report, 1 November 1991-31 October 1992
Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1992 · OSTI ID:6888825

Meteorological Drivers and Large-Scale Climate Forcing of West Antarctic Surface Melt
Journal Article · Thu Jan 03 19:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Climate · OSTI ID:1612800

Antarctic Cloud Macrophysical, Thermodynamic Phase, and Atmospheric Inversion Coupling Properties at McMurdo Station—Part II: Radiative Impact During Different Synoptic Regimes
Journal Article · Mon Feb 04 19:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres · OSTI ID:1491701