Submarine permafrost depth from ambient seismic noise
- Permafrost inundated since the last glacial maximum is degrading, potentially releasing trapped or stabilized greenhouse gases, but few observations of the depth of ice-bonded permafrost (IBP) below the seafloor exist for most of the arctic continental shelf. We use spectral ratios of the ambient vibration seismic wavefield, together with estimated shear wave velocity from the dispersion curves of surface waves, for estimating the thickness of the sediment overlying the IBP. Peaks in spectral ratios modeled for three-layered 1-D systems correspond with varying thickness of the unfrozen sediment. Seismic receivers were deployed on the seabed around Muostakh Island in the central Laptev Sea, Siberia. We derive depths of the IBP between 3.7 and 20.7m15%, increasing with distance from the shoreline. Correspondence between expected permafrost distribution, modeled response, and observational data suggests that the method is promising for the determination of the thickness of unfrozen sediment.
Author details: | Pier Paul OverduinORCiDGND, Christian HaberlandORCiDGND, Trond Ryberg, Fabian Kneier, Tim Jacobi, Mikhail N. GrigorievORCiDGND, Matthias OhrnbergerORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065409 |
ISSN: | 0094-8276 |
ISSN: | 1944-8007 |
Title of parent work (English): | Geophysical research letters |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Place of publishing: | Washington |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2015 |
Publication year: | 2015 |
Release date: | 2017/03/27 |
Tag: | Siberia; ambient noise; continental shelf; submarine permafrost |
Volume: | 42 |
Issue: | 18 |
Number of pages: | 8 |
First page: | 7581 |
Last Page: | 7588 |
Funding institution: | GIPP Experiment (GIPP) [201315]; Helmholtz Association Joint Russian-German Research grant (HGF) [JRG-100]; Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI); GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Helmholtz Centre Potsdam |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Institution name at the time of the publication: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften |