Seasonality and increasing frequency of Greenland glacial earthquakes

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Ekström, Göran, Nettles, Meredith, Tsai, Victor C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2006
• Subjects: Greenland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1122112

Some glaciers and ice streams periodically lurch forward with sufficient force to generate emissions of elastic waves that are recorded on seismometers worldwide. Such glacial earthquakes on Greenland show a strong seasonality as well as a doubling of their rate of occurrence over the past 5 years. These temporal patterns suggest a link to the hydrological cycle and are indicative of a dynamic glacial response to changing climate conditions. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 1 November 2005; accepted 9 January 2006. Supported by National Science Foundation grants EAR-0207608 and OPP-0352276 and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (V.C.T.). The seismic data were collected and distributed by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology and the U.S. Geological Survey.