1. Glacial Hazard Monitoring With Seismology
Host: Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology VAW
ETH Zürich
(at work)
Fabian Walter
2009 – Dr. sc. ETH Zürich
2004 – MSc University of Colorado, USA
2002 – BSc Brigham Young University, USA

2. Can we predict destructive glacier failure? Unteraargletscher, BE
Raymond et al. (2003)
Unteraargletscher, BE
Allalingletscher, VS (1965)

3. Weisshorn (4505 m), VS “Hanging Glaciers” Frozen to bed
Steep glacier tongue
Sliding bed
Subglacial hydraulics
Radar? Resolution problem?
Raymond et al. (2003)

4. Gornersee, VS
1.2 km
Ice dam failure
Rock
Glacier

5. Early Warning Seismic noise measured in situ Monitoring limitations
Surface targeted, only
Seismic noise
measured in situ
“See” into the glacier
Fracture state
Basal drainage

6. Hanging Glaciers: Natural Frequency
collegevibe.com
Milikan Library, California
Stiffness K
Material quality
Structural damage
Monitoring

7. Chamousset Rock Column, France (Levy et al. , 2010; Bottelin et al
Hanging Glaciers Break-off
Resonance peak monitoring
Early warning sign
Volume estimate
Directional Fourier Transform
Frequency (Hz)
Resonance Peaks
Frequency decay prior to failure
Flexure mode

8. Monitoring of Ice Dam Fractures
Walter et al., submitted to GJI
Monitoring of Ice Dam Fractures
Rock
Glacier
Seismic Noise Interferometry
 Cross-correlation 
Seismic noise monitoring
“Virtual hammer blows”: No hammer needed!
Idea: ice dam monitoring
Hammer blow  Force impulse
Fracture state  seismic velocities

9. Steep Glacier Tongues: Seismic Water Tremor
Roger Braithwaite, U Manchester
15 hours
Frequency (Hz) 5 10 15
Pressure
Water
Röösli et al. (2014), Walter et al. (submitted)
Matched filter processing

10. Can Distant Earthquakes Trigger Glacier Failure?
Source: USGS
Landslide in Alaska Range after
M Denali Fault earthquake
Digital seismic records at host institute
Triggered Glacier Failure?
2005 Weisshorn break-off only three days after 9th largest earthquake since 1990 (M8.6 in Indonesia)
Induced crevasse opening in Antarctica (Peng et al. (2014) in ngeo)
Glaciers at tipping point?
Search digital seismic records for earthquake-induced fractures

11. Implementation WIRELESS FREE 23 cm 80 cm Instrument installation
Hanging glacier
Steep glacier tongue
Ice dam
23 cm
Geopebble (Penn State)
WIRELESS
80 cm
Conventional glacier installation
FREE

12. … Implementation 2 PhD Students 1 field engineer
Tasks
Tool translation to glaciers
Data analysis
Instrument installation
2 PhD Students
Enough data, fieldwork, subprojects for master’s students …

13. Seismology Natural Glaciology Hazards
Host Institute: Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology VAW (ETH Zurich)
Seismic Noise
U Grenoble
UC San Diego
Stanford
USGS
ETH-Internal Collaboration
Swiss Seismological Service
Geophysical Institute
Seismology
Earthquake Triggering
UC San Diego
Georgia Tech
VAW
Since 1970’s
Field experience
Natural
Hazards
Glaciology
Fieldwork, instruments
U Grenoble
Penn State

14. Career Goal: Faculty Position
Fieldwork
Stability
Hydraulics
Damage
Mechanics
GPS
Photogrammetry
Radar
interferometry
Early warning
systems
Engineering
seismology
Noise
Sensor
installation
Finite element
modeling
Data handling
Seismology
Natural
Hazards
Glaciology
Teaching: Physics of Glaciers

15. Thank you for
your attention!

16. Weisshorn: Continuous Spectrograms

17. Glacier Seismology
Glacier Seismology
Podolskiy and Walter, in prep.

18. Career Outlook in Switzerland
NATURAL HAZARDS
GLACIER
SEISMOLOGY
Seismic detection of debris flow/landslide/snow avalanche detection and early warning
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL:
ETH Zurich:
Assistant professor in engineering glaciology
Lausanne: Institut de Géographie et Durabilité
SLF
Uni Berne: Institute of Geological Sciences

19. Steep Glacier Tongues: “Active” Phases
Röthlisberger and Kasser (1978)
Efficient subglacial
drainage:
 Melt-suppressed sliding
Inefficient subglacial
drainage:
 Melt-enhanced sliding

20. Digital Seismic Records at ETH (since 1997)
Alpine Glacier Seismology
Collaboration VAW-
Swiss Seismological Service
Altogether over 3 years of continuous seismic records

21. Can Earthquakes Cause Glacier Failure?
Peng et al. (2014)
Nature Geoscience
Dynamic Fracturing
Search glacier seismic records for earthquake-triggered icequakes
Crevassing events triggered by earthquake surface waves