Acoustic detection of ice cracking events

Abstract

With the growing concern in regard to melting ice caps there is a need of tracking iceberg calving events in the arctic seas. Acoustic detection of underwater signals is promising high sensitivity in this context and will supplement existing measurements with land based and underwater seismometers. The relevance of this measurements for the quantification of melting processes will depend on the technical realisation scenarios, the methods that are available to localise and quantify the sources of the according multiple sound transmitters in the arctic environment and finally the choice of the observation sites. This paper will describe the current status of knowledge in this field and anticipated concept to monitor ice cracking events with acoustic methods.