Tidal and thermal stresses drive seismicity along a major Ross Ice Shelf rift

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Olinger, Seth D., Lipovsky, Bradley P., Wiens, Douglas A., Aster, Richard C., Bromirski, Peter D., Chen, Zhao, Gerstoft, Peter, Nyblade, Andrew A., Stephen, Ralph A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2019
• Subjects: Ross Ice Shelf; Glacial seismology; Glaciology; Ice shelf rifting; Antarctica; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/24565

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters, 46(12), (2019): 6644-6652, doi:10.1029/2019GL082842. Understanding deformation in ice shelves is necessary to evaluate the response of ice shelves to thinning. We study microseismicity associated with ice shelf deformation using nine broadband seismographs deployed near a rift on the Ross Ice Shelf. From December 2014 to November 2016, we detect 5,948 icequakes generated by rift deformation. Locations were determined for 2,515 events using a least squares grid‐search and double‐difference algorithms. Ocean swell, infragravity waves, and a significant tsunami arrival do not affect seismicity. Instead, seismicity correlates with tidal phase on diurnal time scales and inversely correlates with air temperature on multiday and seasonal time scales. Spatial variability in tidal elevation tilts the ice shelf, and seismicity is concentrated while the shelf slopes downward toward the ice front. During especially cold periods, thermal stress and embrittlement enhance fracture along the rift. We propose that thermal stress and tidally driven gravitational stress produce rift seismicity with peak activity in the winter. NSF grants PLR‐1142518, 1141916, and 1142126 supported S. D. Olinger and D. A. Wiens, R. C. Aster, and A. A. Nyblade respectively. NSF grant PLR‐1246151 supported P. D. Bromirski, P. Gerstoft, and Z. Chen. NSF grant OPP‐1744856 and CAL‐DPR‐C1670002 also supported P. D. Bromirski. NSF grant PLR‐1246416 supported R. A. Stephen. The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the PASSCAL Instrument Center at New Mexico Tech provided seismic instruments and deployment support. The RIS seismic data (network code XH) are archived at the IRIS Data Management Center (http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/). S. D. Olinger catalogued and located icequakes, analyzed ...