The RESOLVE project: a multi-physics experiment with a temporary dense seismic array on the Argenti\`ere Glacier, French Alps

TL;DR

This study deploys a dense seismic array on the Argenti e Glacier to analyze high-frequency wave signals, providing new insights into glacier processes and demonstrating the value of dense seismic monitoring in cryo-seismology.

Contribution

It presents a novel dense seismic array experiment in a glaciated environment, combining multiple observation techniques to enhance understanding of glacier dynamics.

Findings

Enhanced spatial resolution of basal slip and fracturing sources

Constraints on noise field heterogeneity from subglacial water flow

Link between crevasse properties and seismic velocities

Abstract

Recent work in the field of cryo-seismology demonstrates that high frequency (>1 Hz) waves provide key constraints on a wide range of glacier processes such as basal friction, surface crevassing or subglacial water flow. Establishing quantitative links between the seismic signal and the processes of interest however requires detailed characterization of the wavefield, which at the high frequencies of interest necessitates the deployment of large and particularly dense seismic arrays. Although dense seismic array monitoring has recently become routine in geophysics, its application to glaciated environments has yet remained limited. Here we present a dense seismic array experiment made of 98 3-component seismic stations continuously recording during 35 days in early spring on the Argenti\`ere Glacier, French Alps. The seismic dataset is supplemented by a wide range of complementary observations obtained from ground penetrating radar, drone imagery, GNSS positioning and in-situ instrumentation of basal glacier sliding velocities and subglacial water discharge. Through applying multiple processing techniques including event detection from template matching and systematic beamforming, we demonstrate that the present dataset provides enhanced spatial resolution on basal stick slip and englacial fracturing sources as well as novel constraints on heterogeneous nature of the noise field generated by subglacial water flow and on the link between crevasse properties and englacial seismic velocities. We finally outline in which ways further work using this dataset could help tackle key remaining questions in the field.