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Systematic Detection of Glacial Earthquakes in Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, by Regional Surface Waves

Glacial earthquakes are a class of seismic sources generated by the capsize of icebergs calved from glacier termini, a form of significant mass movement exhibited in polar regions. Although teleseismically observed in Greenland glaciers via the global seismic network, seismic detection of such events in Antarctica has remained elusive. Here, we develop an automatic detection algorithm based on the coherence of relatively short-period Rayleigh waves recorded by the regional seismic network onshore Antarctica. The application to the 2010–2023 dataset resulted in a catalog of 362 largely uncatalogued Ms 2–3 seismic events associated with Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers. The correlation between the frequency of Thwaites events and episodic speed-ups of its frontal ice tongue between 2018 and 2020 suggests a capsizing-glacial-earthquake nature. Pine Island Glacier events near the grounding line show early evidence of basal sliding and remain under further investigation. This study demonstrated the prevalence of glacial earthquakes in Antarctica, with characteristics distinct from those of their Greenland counterparts. The findings have the potential to enable further research into the (in)stability of the Thwaites Glacier calving front under ocean forcing, which may have far-reaching implications for global sea-level rise.

Session: Detecting, Characterizing and Monitoring Mass Movements - I

Type: Oral

Room: Ballroom C

Date: 4/15/2026

Presentation Time: 05:30 PM (local time)

Presenting Author: Thanh Son Pham

Student Presenter: No

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