Surface explosives in active source seismic surveying: performance and new imaging at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide

Active-source seismic reflection profiling has long been used on ice sheets and glaciers to determine ice thickness and englacial properties, and to elucidate hydrological and geological controls on ice sheet motion. The types and depths of sources can impact the quality of imaging due to various phenomena including strong seismic attenuation in firn, secondary reflections and scattering, and surface-wave generation. These issues can be mitigated by installing sources in shot-holes, but this increases the logistic and cost burden of the acquisition, ultimately damaging productivity and acquisition rates. During 2018-19, we investigated the signal quality of different types of surface sources, including Poulter shots (ie, explosives mounted above the surface, radiating a shockwave that generates the seismic waves) and surface configurations of detonating cord. We report results from these seismic tests at the West …