Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard
The small-aperture Spitsbergen seismic array (SPITS) has been in continuous operation at Janssonhaugen for decades. The high-Arctic location in the Svalbard archipelago makes SPITS an ideal laboratory for the study of cryoseisms, a nontectonic class of seismic events caused by freeze processes in ic...
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Copernicus Publications
2022
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d4d9f23399a14207a20806f1475f9834 2023-05-15T13:05:46+02:00 Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard R. Romeyn A. Hanssen A. Köhler 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 https://doaj.org/article/d4d9f23399a14207a20806f1475f9834 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2025/2022/tc-16-2025-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/d4d9f23399a14207a20806f1475f9834 The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 2025-2050 (2022) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 2022-12-30T21:49:00Z The small-aperture Spitsbergen seismic array (SPITS) has been in continuous operation at Janssonhaugen for decades. The high-Arctic location in the Svalbard archipelago makes SPITS an ideal laboratory for the study of cryoseisms, a nontectonic class of seismic events caused by freeze processes in ice, ice–soil, and ice–rock materials. We extracted a catalog of > 100 000 events from the nearly continuous observation period between 2004 and 2021, characterized by short-duration ground shaking of just a few seconds. This catalog contains two main subclasses where one subclass is related to underground coal-mining activities and the other is inferred to be dominated by frost quakes resulting from thermal-contraction cracking of ice wedges and crack-filling vein ice. This inference is supported by the correspondence between peaks in observed seismicity with peaks in modeled ground thermal stress, based on a Maxwellian thermo-viscoelastic model constrained by borehole observations of ground temperature. The inferred frost quakes appear to be dominated by surface wave energy and SPITS proximal source positions, with three main areas that are associated with dynamic geomorphological features, i.e., erosional scarps and a frozen-debris/solifluction lobe. Seismic stations providing year-round, high-temporal-resolution measurements of ground motion may be highly complementary to satellite remote sensing methods, such as InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar), for studying the dynamics of periglacial environments. The long-term observational record presented in this study, containing tens of thousands of cryoseismic events, in combination with a detailed record of borehole ground temperature observations, provides a unique insight into the spatiotemporal patterns of cryoseisms. The observed patterns may guide the development of models that can be used to understand future changes to cryoseismicity based on projected temperatures. Article in Journal/Newspaper Adventdalen Arctic Svalbard The Cryosphere Spitsbergen Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Adventdalen ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181) Janssonhaugen ENVELOPE(16.383,16.383,78.183,78.183) The Cryosphere 16 5 2025 2050 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 R. Romeyn A. Hanssen A. Köhler Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The small-aperture Spitsbergen seismic array (SPITS) has been in continuous operation at Janssonhaugen for decades. The high-Arctic location in the Svalbard archipelago makes SPITS an ideal laboratory for the study of cryoseisms, a nontectonic class of seismic events caused by freeze processes in ice, ice–soil, and ice–rock materials. We extracted a catalog of > 100 000 events from the nearly continuous observation period between 2004 and 2021, characterized by short-duration ground shaking of just a few seconds. This catalog contains two main subclasses where one subclass is related to underground coal-mining activities and the other is inferred to be dominated by frost quakes resulting from thermal-contraction cracking of ice wedges and crack-filling vein ice. This inference is supported by the correspondence between peaks in observed seismicity with peaks in modeled ground thermal stress, based on a Maxwellian thermo-viscoelastic model constrained by borehole observations of ground temperature. The inferred frost quakes appear to be dominated by surface wave energy and SPITS proximal source positions, with three main areas that are associated with dynamic geomorphological features, i.e., erosional scarps and a frozen-debris/solifluction lobe. Seismic stations providing year-round, high-temporal-resolution measurements of ground motion may be highly complementary to satellite remote sensing methods, such as InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar), for studying the dynamics of periglacial environments. The long-term observational record presented in this study, containing tens of thousands of cryoseismic events, in combination with a detailed record of borehole ground temperature observations, provides a unique insight into the spatiotemporal patterns of cryoseisms. The observed patterns may guide the development of models that can be used to understand future changes to cryoseismicity based on projected temperatures. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
R. Romeyn A. Hanssen A. Köhler |
author_facet |
R. Romeyn A. Hanssen A. Köhler |
author_sort |
R. Romeyn |
title |
Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
title_short |
Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
title_full |
Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in Adventdalen, Svalbard |
title_sort |
long-term analysis of cryoseismic events and associated ground thermal stress in adventdalen, svalbard |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 https://doaj.org/article/d4d9f23399a14207a20806f1475f9834 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181) ENVELOPE(16.383,16.383,78.183,78.183) |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Adventdalen Janssonhaugen |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Adventdalen Janssonhaugen |
genre |
Adventdalen Arctic Svalbard The Cryosphere Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Adventdalen Arctic Svalbard The Cryosphere Spitsbergen |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 2025-2050 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2025/2022/tc-16-2025-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/d4d9f23399a14207a20806f1475f9834 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2025-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2025 |
op_container_end_page |
2050 |
_version_ |
1766393241670778880 |