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Detection and Characterization of Ice-related Seismic Signals Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing Offshore Beaufort Sea, Alaska

Description: 

The Arctic is a relatively inaccessible environment, covered in ice nearly year-round, which poses logistical challenges for instrumentation and operations. Sandia National Laboratories currently operates a fully remote distributed acoustic and temperature sensing system along a pre-existing segment of telecommunication fiber optic cable extending from Oliktok Point, Alaska ~37 km into the Beaufort Sea. This provides a unique opportunity for bottom-up monitoring, including subsurface permafrost and sea ice, with direct implications for climate and national security. Here we focus on ice related signals we recorded over five months during the 2023 PEMDATS deployment. These events span three Arctic seasons, when the Beaufort Sea is entirely covered in ice (February through April), during ice break up (July through August), and during a period of open water (September). DAS signals are dominated by icequakes during the full ice coverage season, many of which occur in distinct swarms resulting from thermal variations in ice driven primarily by changes in air temperature. Acoustic signals during ice break up reflect icequakes, ice collisions, and ice grounding events. The open water season contains few acoustic events, highlighting the ice-driven nature behind the quantity of acoustic signals recorded in the shallow Arctic during this time range. This multi-season catalog of ice-related signals demonstrates the utility of DAS in monitoring ice behavior in the Arctic. SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.

Session: Fiber-optic Sensing Applications in Seismology [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/15/2025

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Jessica

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Poster Number: 52

Authors