Tracking Greenland’s ice melt with seismic waves
Researchers from MIT, Princeton University, and elsewhere have developed a new technique to monitor the seasonal changes in Greenland’s ice sheet, using seismic vibrations generated by crashing ocean waves. The results, published today in the journal Science Advances, may help scientists pinpoint regions of the ice sheet that are most vulnerable to melting. The technique may also set better constraints on how the world’s ice sheets contribute to global sea-level changes. “One of the major contributors to sea level rise will be changes to the ice sheets,” says Germán Prieto, the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at MIT. “With our technique, we can continuously monitor ice sheet volume changes associated with winter and summer. That’s something that global models need to be able to take into account when calculating how much ice will contribute to sea level rise.” Prieto...