The glacier seismo-acoustic monitoring system in the Ukrainian Antarctic Station region

Continuous long-term monitoring of the glacier is not an easy task. For the Woozle Hill ice cap near the Vernadsky Research Station, which is located on Galindez Island (Argentine Islands Archipelago), the task was solved by periodic ice sampling, GNSS measurements, photometry, and the use of GPR in the summer season. Some meteorological parameters were also periodically measured inside the ice cave in the glacier when conditions were favorable. In the past few years, GPR measurements have become more constant, and now they are carried out monthly. For continuous monitoring of the internal stresses of the glacier, we proposed using a network of seismoacoustic mini-arrays located along the perimeter of the glacier. Each array consists of four seismoacoustic sensors arranged in a cross. The length of the line between the extreme sensors reaches 100 meters. Proprietary sensors use an optical system for recording the seismic and infrasonic vibrations. The built-in microcontroller of each sensor transmits the digitized data (16 bit, 100(300) Hz) to the main unit based on the LattePanda, where preprocessing is performed. GPS receiver is also connected here for data synchronization. There is a Wi-Fi module for transmitting data to the collection station. Also, data can be transmitted to the collection station by wires installed on the cable-growth. Power is supplied 220 V through an adapter and a 12V battery. The sensors are waterproof, the rest of the equipment is assembled in a sealed waterproof box. There are three such arrays, in their turn, they form a regular triangle with a side of 700 meters, inside which there is a glacier. The processing consists of detecting signals in each array by the STA / LTA method, followed by correlation processing of the selected data fragment and calculating the azimuth to the signal, wave velocity, period, and amplitude. Also, the isolation of the coherent part of the low-intensity signal at the noise level can be carried out without preliminary STA / LTA detection, using algorithm F-statistics. Correlated interference is clipped in azimuth. The intersection of two or three azimuths allows you to locate the signal source. All parameters of detections with time stamps are recorded in the database and can be further processed using station meteorological data. The system began to be deployed around the glacier in January 2021. The presentation will present the first results of the deployed monitoring system.