Introducing 'Ice Quakes'

The concept of an ‘ice quake’ has been introduced as an additional threat to high latitude regions and has been affiliated with the break up of ice sheets in Greenland and West Antartica. Ekstrom et al. (2003) presents the way glaciers and ice streams can occasionally “lurch forward” with a force strong enough to let loose elastic waves. This is powerful enough to be detectable on seismometers across the world. The energy wielded by these glacial earthquakes in Greenland and West Antarctica can instigate markedly more forceful tsunamis than a submarine earthquake of an equal magnitude (Song, 2009)*. ‘Ice quakes’ have seasonal patterns and the rate of occurrence has doubled over the last five years. Such temporal trends signify the link to the hydrological cycle and show how the glacial environment is responding to  anthropogenic climate change. McGuire (2010) has referenced how ‘ice quakes’ are likely to become a particular threat to high latitudes in the future, especially in Chile, New Zealand and Newfoundland (Canada). 

*Song, T. 2009. Glacial earthquake tsunami - a consequence of climate change. In: Proceedings, 3rd Johnston-Lavis Colloquium: Climate forcing of Geological and Geomorphological Hazards, University College London (Abstract).