Underwater acoustic signatures of glacier calving
Climate‐driven ice‐water interactions in the contact zone between marine‐terminating glaciers and the ocean surface show a dynamic and complex nature. Tidewater glaciers lose volume through the poorly understood process of calving. A detailed description of the mechanisms controlling the course of c...
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Published in | Geophysical research letters Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 804 - 812 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Washington
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
16.02.2015
John Wiley & Sons, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Climate‐driven ice‐water interactions in the contact zone between marine‐terminating glaciers and the ocean surface show a dynamic and complex nature. Tidewater glaciers lose volume through the poorly understood process of calving. A detailed description of the mechanisms controlling the course of calving is essential for the reliable estimation and prediction of mass loss from glaciers. Here we present the potential of hydroacoustic methods to investigate different modes of ice detachments. High‐frequency underwater ambient noise recordings are combined with synchronized, high‐resolution, time‐lapse photography of the Hans Glacier cliff in Hornsund Fjord, Spitsbergen, to identify three types of calving events: typical subaerial, sliding subaerial, and submarine. A quantitative analysis of the data reveals a robust correlation between ice impact energy and acoustic emission at frequencies below 200 Hz for subaerial calving. We suggest that relatively inexpensive acoustic methods can be successfully used to provide quantitative descriptions of the various calving types.
Key Points
Underwater sound contains detailed information about different calving modes
Poorly understood submarine detachments can be investigated acoustically
Energy of impact is strongly correlated with acoustic emission below 200 Hz |
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Bibliography: | USA Office of Naval Research, Ocean Acoustics Division - No. N00014-14-1-0213 Polish-Norwegian Research Cooperation programme AWAKE2 - No. Pol-Nor/198675/17/2013 Polish National Science Center - No. 2011/03/B/ST10/04275 istex:A0717F3F38DD9A75226D6F09EF096B1A4BE314D8 ArticleID:GRL52534 Figure S1 and Table S1Movie S1Movie S2Movie S3 ark:/67375/WNG-1WLLCC4K-L ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
DOI: | 10.1002/2014GL062859 |