Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) of Seismic Properties in a Borehole drilled on a Fast‐Flowing Greenlandic Outlet Glacier ...

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is a new technology in which seismic energy is detected, at high spatial and temporal resolution, using the propagation of laser pulses in a fibre-optic cable. We show analyses from the first glaciological borehole DAS deployment to measure the englacial and subgla...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Booth, Adam D, Christoffersen, Poul, Schoonman, Charlotte, Clarke, Andy, Hubbard, Bryn, Law, Robert, Doyle, Samuel Huckerby, Chudley, Thomas Russell, Chalari, Athena
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2020
Subjects:
Distributed Acoustic Sensing DAS
Vertical Seismic Profile VSP
Greenland Ice Sheet
anisotropy
subglacial sediment
borehole surveying
Greenland
glacier
greenlandic
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.53990
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/306900
Description
Summary:Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is a new technology in which seismic energy is detected, at high spatial and temporal resolution, using the propagation of laser pulses in a fibre-optic cable. We show analyses from the first glaciological borehole DAS deployment to measure the englacial and subglacial seismic properties of Store Glacier, a fast-flowing outlet of the Greenland Ice Sheet. We record compressional and shear waves in 1043 m-deep vertical seismic profiles, sampled at 10 m vertical resolution, and detect a transition from isotropic to anisotropic ice at 84% of ice thickness, consistent with the Holocene-Wisconsin transition. We identify subglacial reflections originating from the base of a 20 m-thick layer of consolidated sediment and, from attenuation measurements, interpret temperate ice in the lowermost 100 m of the glacier. Our findings highlight the promising potential of DAS technology to constrain the seismic properties of glaciers and ice sheets. ...

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