Seismic Characterisation of an Arctic Glacier

In recent years, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has emerged as a cost-effective seismic monitoring tool for cryosphere research. Compared to conventional geophone arrays, the DAS system is compact, easy to transport, and can be rapidly deployed over large distances in glaciated environments.

Previous studies have demonstrated that DAS is a useful tool for ice-sheet imaging and monitoring glacier dynamics. For example, using borehole DAS in conjunction with surface explosives (e.g., Booth et al., 2022; Fitchner et al., 2023) or passive recordings using surface DAS (e.g., Walter et al., 2020; Gräff et al, 2025). Significant progress has been made in applying surface DAS for active marine subsurface imaging (e.g., Pedersen et al., 2022; Raknes et al., 2025). We extend this approach to active englacial and subglacial imaging on Slakbreen, Svalbard.

During a multi-geophysical field campaign in March 2025, we acquired seismic data using surface explosives along an approximately 2 km fibre co-located with a vertical-component geophone array. We process different reflected modes (PP and PS) recorded on the fibre and benchmark the imaging results against the equivalent PP-image from the geophone array. We evaluate differences in wavefield sensitivity across the three datasets and we will present how these can be used to characterise the state of the cryosphere and deeper sedimentary successions.

Despite the relative immaturity of DAS for glacier imaging and current limitations of the processing workflow, our results clearly establish surface DAS as a viable monitoring tool for seismic imaging of the cryosphere and as a potential enabler of large-scale seismic monitoring of glaciers and the subsurface.

 

References:

Booth, A. D., P. Christoffersen, A. Pretorius, J. Chapman, B. Hubbard, E. C. Smith, S. de Ridder, A. Nowacki, B. P. Lipovsky, and M. Denolle, 2022, Characterising sediment thickness beneath a greenlandic outlet glacier using distributed acoustic sensing: preliminary observations and progress towards an efficient machine learning approach: Annals of Glaciology, 63(87-89):79–82.                                                                                                                                                   

Fichtner, A., C. Hofstede, L. Gebraad, A. Zunino, D. Zigone, and O. Eisen, 2023, Borehole fibre-optic seismology inside the northeast greenland ice stream: Geo-physical Journal International, 235(3):2430–2441.

Gräff, D., B. P. Lipovsky, A. Vieli, A. Dachauer, R. Jackson, D. Farinotti, J. Schmale, J.-P. Ampuero, E. Berg, A. Dannowski, et al., 2025, Calving-driven fjord dynamics resolved by seafloor fibre sensing: Nature, 644(8076):404–412.

Pedersen, A., H. Westerdahl, M. Thompson, C. Sagary, and J. Brenne, 2022, A north sea case study: Does das have potential for permanent reservoir monitoring? In Proceedings of the 83rd EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition, pages 1–5. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.

Raknes, E. B., B. Foseide, and G. Jansson, 2025, Acquisition and imaging of ocean-bottom fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing data using a full-shot carpet from a conventional 3d survey: Geophysics, 90(5):P99–P112.

Walter, F., D. Gräff, F. Lindner, P. Paitz, M. Köpfli, M. Chmiel, and A. Fichtner,2020, Distributed acoustic sensing of microseismic sources and wave propagation in glaciated terrain: Nature communications, 11(1):2436.