Andreas Fichtner's unexpected discovery in August 2022 revealed a novel way glaciers move by monitoring micro-seismic activity in glaciers in Greenland. Initially skeptical of the data from a fiber-optic cable, Fichtner and his team found tiny ice quakes related to impurities from volcanic eruptions. These identified weaknesses in the ice, where movement occurred along cracks, suggest that the dynamics of ice sheets are much more complex than scientists previously assumed, raising critical questions about their contributions to global sea-level rise.
Their findings suggest that the presence of volcanic impurities in ice increases vulnerability to cracking and affects the dynamics of glacier movements more than previously understood.
The research highlights how these tiny earthquakes and their locations correlate directly with weaknesses in the ice, leading to greater insight into glacier behavior.
Collection
[
|
...
]