![]() “Since frost quakes are rare, localized, cannot be monitored and tend to cause only minimal damage, the scientific community has very limited amount of information,” said University of Toronto Scarborough Climate Laboratory researcher Andrew Leung. “But typically they will not be felt very far away.”Īnd social media have given researchers a new way to study the little-discussed temblors. “Even though their source sizes are small, the shaking they cause at the surface can be large because they occur so close to the surface,” Thurber said in an email to the Los Angeles Times. The most intense frost quake he’s seen was a magnitude 1.5. He guesses that the frozen water tables are tens of meters long. The term also includes the cracking and slipping of glacial ice and the fracturing of frozen lake ice, said Clifford Thurber, a geophysics professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison. For those happening in areas with glaciers, they can happen even in warm conditions since glaciers never melt.“I went on Twitter and found several tweets from people who were awoken by the same thing, at the same time, around the same area as my apartment building,” she said.įrost quakes have a scientific name: cryoseism. A good example of such sand is sandy soil or gravel. Since water has to permeate into the ground, it holds to reason that the sand has to allow for permeation. Lastly, a cryoseism is likely to occur when temperatures drop suddenly (within 16 to 48 hours) from freezing to below zero degrees or close to zero.Ĭryoseisms that are accompanied by seismic activity are most likely to happen anywhere from midnight to dawn. In addition, there has to be minor snow cover (less than six inches) on the ground. In the case of a ground cryoseism, the ground has to be sufficiently saturated with water before the arrival of the air masses. The first condition is that the area has to be exposed to cold air masses. However, four main conditions have to be present for a cryoseism to occur. People who live in places with a history of such occurrences are advised to stay alert at all times. For this reason, weather experts usually have a tough time predicting their occurrences. The phenomenon requires many requirements for it to occur. ![]() For example, a layer of water below a glacier may act as a lubricant of an overlying glacier.Ĭonditions for the Occurrence of a Cryoseism Movement of glaciers can be caused by a number of things. A good example of such an event happens when there is a sudden movement of glaciers. Non-Seismic CryoseismĬryoseism can also occur without causing seismic action. ![]() This alternate freezing and melting places stress on the rock or the ground to the point where an ice quake occurs. Instead, the process can take several years after many melting and freezing cycles. Ice quakes do not occur immediately after the water freezes in one winter season. When this happens, especially in cold environments, freezing easily occurs thus fulfilling one of the requirements of a cryoseism. The frozen water in the soil or the rocks usually finds its way there through natural permeation. The cracking ice can be found in a number of places such as frozen soil or rocks. The cracking can be sometimes be accompanied by a loud bang. Scientifically known as a cryoseism, a frost quake or an ice quake refers to a seismic activity that is a result of cracking ice. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |