Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010
Glacial earthquakes are anomalous earthquakes associated with large ice-loss events occurring at marine-terminating glaciers, primarily in Greenland. They are detectable teleseismically, and a proper understanding of the source mechanism may provide a remote-sensing tool to complement glaciological...
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ftcolumbiauniv:oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 2023-05-15T16:21:03+02:00 Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 Veitch, Stephen Alexander Nettles, Meredith K. 2012 https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 English eng https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 Glaciology Seismology Glaciers Earthquakes Articles 2012 ftcolumbiauniv https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 2019-04-04T08:08:35Z Glacial earthquakes are anomalous earthquakes associated with large ice-loss events occurring at marine-terminating glaciers, primarily in Greenland. They are detectable teleseismically, and a proper understanding of the source mechanism may provide a remote-sensing tool to complement glaciological observations of these large outlet glaciers. We model teleseismic surface-wave waveforms to obtain locations and centroid–single-force source parameters for 121 glacial earthquakes occurring in Greenland during the period 2006–2010. We combine these results with those obtained by previous workers to analyze spatial and temporal trends in glacial-earthquake occurrence over the 18-year period from 1993–2010. We also examine earthquake occurrence at six individual glaciers, comparing the earthquake record to independently obtained observations of glacier change. Our findings confirm the inference that glacial-earthquake seismogenesis occurs through the capsize of large, newly calved icebergs. We find a close correspondence between episodes of glacier retreat, thinning, and acceleration and the timing of glacial earthquakes, and document the northward progression of glacial earthquakes on Greenland's west coast over the 18-year observing period. Our results also show that glacial earthquakes occur when the termini of the source glaciers are very close to the glacier grounding line, i.e., when the glaciers are grounded or nearly grounded. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Columbia University: Academic Commons Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Columbia University: Academic Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftcolumbiauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Glaciology Seismology Glaciers Earthquakes |
spellingShingle |
Glaciology Seismology Glaciers Earthquakes Veitch, Stephen Alexander Nettles, Meredith K. Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
topic_facet |
Glaciology Seismology Glaciers Earthquakes |
description |
Glacial earthquakes are anomalous earthquakes associated with large ice-loss events occurring at marine-terminating glaciers, primarily in Greenland. They are detectable teleseismically, and a proper understanding of the source mechanism may provide a remote-sensing tool to complement glaciological observations of these large outlet glaciers. We model teleseismic surface-wave waveforms to obtain locations and centroid–single-force source parameters for 121 glacial earthquakes occurring in Greenland during the period 2006–2010. We combine these results with those obtained by previous workers to analyze spatial and temporal trends in glacial-earthquake occurrence over the 18-year period from 1993–2010. We also examine earthquake occurrence at six individual glaciers, comparing the earthquake record to independently obtained observations of glacier change. Our findings confirm the inference that glacial-earthquake seismogenesis occurs through the capsize of large, newly calved icebergs. We find a close correspondence between episodes of glacier retreat, thinning, and acceleration and the timing of glacial earthquakes, and document the northward progression of glacial earthquakes on Greenland's west coast over the 18-year observing period. Our results also show that glacial earthquakes occur when the termini of the source glaciers are very close to the glacier grounding line, i.e., when the glaciers are grounded or nearly grounded. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Veitch, Stephen Alexander Nettles, Meredith K. |
author_facet |
Veitch, Stephen Alexander Nettles, Meredith K. |
author_sort |
Veitch, Stephen Alexander |
title |
Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
title_short |
Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
title_full |
Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
title_fullStr |
Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
title_sort |
spatial and temporal variations in greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993–2010 |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8NZ8JC5 |
_version_ |
1766009063104053248 |