| Title | Monitoring southwest Greenlands ice sheet melt with ambient seismic noise |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2016 |
| Authors | Mordret, A, Mikesell, TD, Harig, C, Lipovsky, BP, Prieto, GA |
| Journal | Science Advances |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pagination | e1501538 - e1501538 |
| Date Published | Jan-05-2016 |
| Abstract | The Greenland ice sheet presently accounts for ∼70% of global ice sheet mass loss. Because this mass loss is
associated with sea-level rise at a rate of 0.7 mm/year, the development of improved monitoring techniques to
observe ongoing changes in ice sheet mass balance is of paramount concern. Spaceborne mass balance techniques
are commonly used; however, they are inadequate for many purposes because of their low spatial and/
or temporal resolution. We demonstrate that small variations in seismic wave speed in Earth’s crust, as
measured with the correlation of seismic noise, may be used to infer seasonal ice sheet mass balance. Seasonal
loading and unloading of glacial mass induces strain in the crust, and these strains then result in seismic velocity
changes due to poroelastic processes. Our method provides a new and independent way of monitoring
(in near real time) ice sheet mass balance, yielding new constraints on ice sheet evolution and its contribution
to global sea-level changes. An increased number of seismic stations in the vicinity of ice sheets will enhance
our ability to create detailed space-time records of ice mass variations. |
| URL | http://advances.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1501538 |
| DOI | 10.1126/sciadv.1501538 |
| Short Title | Science Advances |
