The seismic activity of a planet can be described by the corner magnitude, events larger than which are extremely unlikely, and the seismic moment rate, the long-term average of annual seismic moment release. Marsquake S1222a proves large enough to be representative of the global activity of Mars and places observational constraints on the moment rate. The magnitude-frequency distribution of relevant Marsquakes indicates a b-value of 1.17, but with its uncertainty and a volcanic region bias, b=1 is still possible. The moment rate is likely between 1.5e15 Nm/a and 1.6e18 Nm/a, with a marginal distribution peaking at 4.9e16 Nm/a. Comparing this with pre-InSight estimations shows that these tended to overestimate the moment rate, and that 30 % or more of the tectonic deformation may occur silently, whereas the seismicity is probably restricted to localized centers rather than spread over the entire planet.

A document by Jiali Zhang. Click on the document to view its contents.

• Frictional ruptures initiate via a characteristic nucleation process that triggers dynamic rupture essentially • Nucleation replaces the concept of a ‘static friction coefficient’ • The nucleation process possesses unique characteristic general properties • Nucleation details depend on local topography

We show the global dynamics of spatial cross-correlation of Pc2 wave activity can track the evolution of the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day geomagnetic storm for an 8 hour time window around onset. The global spatially coherent response is tracked by forming a dynamical network from 1 second data using the full set of 100+ ground-based magnetometer stations collated by SuperMAG and Intermagnet. The pattern of spatial coherence is then captured by a few network parameters which in turn track the evolution of the storm. At onset IMF B_z>0 and Pc2 power increases, we find a global response with stations being correlated over both local and global distances. Following onset, whilst B_z>0, the network response is confined to the day-side. When IMF B_z<0, there is a strong local response at high latitudes, consistent with the onset of polar cap convection driven by day-side reconnection. The spatially coherent response as revealed by the network grows and is maximal when both SME and SMR peak, consistent with an active electrojet and ring-current. Throughout the storm there is a coherent response both in stations located along lines of constant geomagnetic longitude, between hemispheres, and across magnetic local time. The network does not simply track the average Pc2 wave power, however is characterized by network parameters which track the evolution of the storm. This is a first study to parameterize global Pc2 wave correlation and offers the possibility of statistical studies across multiple events to detailed comparison with, and validation of, space weather models.

The question “what arrests an earthquake rupture?” sits at the heart of any potential prediction of earthquake magnitude. Here, we use a one-dimensional, thin-elastic-strip, minimal model, to illuminate the basic physical parameters that control the arrest of large ruptures. The generic formulation of the model allows for wrapping various earthquake arrest scenarios into the variations of two dimensionless variables $\bar \tau_k$ (initial pre-stress on the fault) and $\bar d_c$ (fracture energy), valid for both in-plane and antiplane shear loading. Our continuum model is equivalent to the standard Burridge-Knopoff model, with an added characteristic length scale, $H$, that corresponds to either the thickness of the damage zone for strike-slip faults or to the thickness of the downward moving plate for subduction settings. We simulate the propagation and arrest of frictional ruptures and derive closed-form expressions to predict rupture arrest under different conditions. Our generic model illuminates the different energy budget that mediates crack- and pulse-like rupture propagation and arrest. It provides additional predictions such as generic stable pulse-like rupture solutions, stress drop independence of the rupture size, the existence of back-propagating fronts, and predicts that asymmetric slip profiles arise under certain pre-stress conditions. These diverse features occur also in natural earthquakes, and the fact that they can all be predicted by a single minimal framework is encouraging and pave the way for future developments of this model.

Crustal motion observations from Global Positioning System (GPS) networks have not yet been fully exploited in previous studies on glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and mantle rheology structure. In this study, we have isolated GIA signals from vertical velocity observations at rigorously selected (over 2,000) GPS stations from the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (NGL) by removing the effects of atmospheric and oceanic loading, as well as changes in the contemporary glaciers. We have also attempted to include hydrological and sea-level loading corrections based on the most updated model products, but found them still not accurate enough for GIA-related studies. Therefore, we recommend the GPS-derived global GIA uplift rate dataset MIDAS-AO without hydrological and sea-level loading corrections applied. Under the constraints of MIDAS-AO uplift rates, we refined the VM5a viscosity model and obtained two revised viscosity profiles, VM5aR_AO1 and VM5aR_AO2, that differ by an extra layer in the transition zone of the latter profile. With respect to VM5a, VM5aR_AO1 indicates a slight increase of viscosity within the upper mantle, while VM5aR_AO2 favors a softer upper part of the upper mantle and a stiffer transition zone. Maps of the variations of model-dataset misfits show that our new viscosity profiles commonly recover a better fit for sites located at the Scandinavian Peninsula and south of the Hudson Bay.

The seismic waves emitted during granular flows are generated by different sources: high frequencies by inter-particle collisions and low frequencies by global motion and large scale deformation. To unravel these different mechanisms, an experimental study has been performed on the seismic waves emitted by dry, dense, quasi-steady granular flows. The emitted seismic waves were recorded using shock accelerometers and the flow dynamics were captured with a fast camera. The mechanical characteristics of the particle collisions were analyzed, along with the intervals between collisions and the correlations in particles’ motion. The high-frequency seismic waves (1-50 kHz) were found to originate from particle collisions and waves trapped in the flowing layer. The low-frequency waves (20-60 Hz) were generated by particles’ oscillations along their trajectories, i.e. from cycles of dilation/compression during coherent shear. The profiles of granular temperature (i.e. the mean squared value of particle velocity fluctuations) and average velocity were measured and related to each other, then used in a simple steady granular flow model, in which the seismic signal consists of the variously attenuated contributions of shear-induced Hertzian collisions throughout the flow, to predict the rate at which seismic energy was emitted. Agreement with the measured seismic power was reasonable, and scaling laws relating the seismic power, the shear strain rate and the inertial number were derived. In particular, the emitted seismic power was observed to be approximately proportional to the root mean square velocity fluctuation to the power $3.1 \pm 0.9$, with the latter related to the mean flow velocity.

There are now more interferograms being generated from global satellite radar datasets than can be assessed by hand. The reliable, automatic detection of true displacement from these data is therefore critical, both for monitoring deformation related to geohazards and understanding solid earth processes. We discuss improvements to an unsupervised, event agnostic method for automatically detecting deformation in unwrapped interferograms. We use an anomaly detection framework that recognises any deformation as “anomalies” by learning the ‘typical’ spatio-temporal pattern of atmospheric and other noise in sequences of interferograms. Here, we present developments to our prototype model, ALADDIn (Autoencoder-LSTM based Anomaly Detector of Deformation in InSAR) using (1) a self-attention training technique to exploit redundancy in interferogram networks to capture the temporal structure of signals and (2) the addition of synthetic data for training. We evaluate the impact of these developments using two geophysical scenarios: (1) the detection of the same M_w 5.7 earthquake used to test our original model (20.03.2019, south-west Turkey), (2) the persistent uplift of Domoyu volcano (17.05.2017 to 14.12.2018, Argentina). We make a quantitative evaluation of the performance of our method using synthetic test data and find that for peak displacements exceeding a few cm and of length-scale greater than a few hundred metres, overall detection accuracy is 80 to 90%.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) enables data acquisition for underwater Earth Science with unprecedented spatial resolution. Submarine fibre optic cables traverse sea bottom features that can lead to suspended or decoupled cable portions, and are exposed to the ocean dynamics and to high rates of marine erosion or sediment deposition, which may induce temporal variations of the cable’s mechanical coupling to the ocean floor. Although these spatio-temporal fluctuations of the mechanical coupling affect the quality of the data recorded by DAS, and determine whether a cable section is useful or not for geophysical purposes, the detection of unsuitable cable portions has not been investigated in detail. Here, we report on DAS observations of two distinct vibration regimes of seafloor fibre optic cables: a high-frequency (> 2 Hz) regime we associate to cable segments pinned between seafloor features, and a low-frequency (< 1 Hz) regime we associate to suspended cable sections. While the low-frequency oscillations are driven by deep ocean currents, the high-frequency oscillations are triggered by the passage of earthquake seismic waves. Using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, we demonstrate that high-frequency oscillations excite normal modes comparable to those of a finite 1D wave propagation structure. We further identify trapped waves propagating along cable portions featuring high-frequency oscillations. Their wave speed is consistent with that of longitudinal waves propagating across the steel armouring of the cable. The DAS data on cable sections featuring such cable waves are dominated by highly monochromatic noise. Our results suggest that the spatio-temporal evolution of the mechanical coupling between fibre optic cables exposed to the ocean dynamics and the seafloor can be monitored through the combined analysis of the two vibration regimes presented here, which provides a DAS-based method to identify underwater cable sections unsuitable for the analysis of seismic waves.

Accelerating aseismic slip events have been commonly observed during the rupture nucleation processes of the earthquake. While that accelerating aseismic slip is usually considered strong evidence for precursory activity, it remains unclear whether all accelerating aseismic slip events are precursory to an incoming earthquake. Two contrasting nucleation models have been introduced to explain the observations associated with the nucleation of unstable slip: the pre-slip and cascade nucleation models. Each of these two-end members, however, has its own limitations. In this study, we employ Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations of a 2-D strike-slip fault to simulate various rupture nucleation and triggering processes. Our simulation results manifest that the final seismic event is a product contributed by multiple pre-slip nucleation sites, which may interact, causing clock advance or cascade nucleation rupture processes. We also introduce a strengthening perturbation zone to investigate the role of a single nucleation site in an imminent seismic event. The simulation results reveal a new type of non-precursory aseismic slip, representing the region favoring the generation of the precursory slip process but not correlating to the incoming main event, which differs from the previous interpretation of precursory slip. Furthermore, we include weakening perturbation zones in some simulations to demonstrate how small earthquakes may or may not trigger a nucleation site depending on spatial and temporal conditions. Our simulation results imply that such non-precursory but accelerating aseismic slip events may suggest a fault segment that appears weakly coupled but possesses the potential to be triggered seismically.

The open-source PlanetProfile framework was developed to investigate the interior structure of icy moons based on self-consistency and comparative planetology. The software, originally written in Matlab, relates observed and measured properties, assumptions such as the type of materials present, and laboratory equation-of-state data through geophysical and thermodynamic models to evaluate radial profiles of mechanical, thermodynamic, and electrical properties, as self-consistently as possible. We have created a Python version of PlanetProfile. In the process, we have made optimization improvements and added parallelization and parameter-space search features to utilize fast operation for investigating unresolved questions in planetary geophysics, in which many model inputs are poorly constrained. The Python version links to other scientific software packages, including for evaluating equation-of-state data, magnetic induction calculations, and seismic calculations. Physical models in PlanetProfile have been reconfigured to improve self-consistency and generate the most realistic relationships between properties. Here, we describe the software design and algorithms in detail, summarize models for major moons across the outer solar system, and discuss new inferences about the interior structure of several bodies. The high values and narrow uncertainty ranges reported for the axial moments of inertia for Callisto, Titan, and Io are difficult to reconcile with self-consistent models, requiring highly porous rock layers equivalent to incomplete differentiation for Callisto and Titan, and a high rock melt fraction for Io. This effect is even more pronounced with the more realistic models in the Python version. Radial profiles for each model and comparison to prior work are provided as Zenodo archives.

An intense earthquake swarm is occurring in the crust of the northeastern Noto Peninsula, Japan. Fluid movement related to volcanic activity is often involved in earthquake swarms in the crust, but the last volcanic activity in this area occurred in the middle Miocene (15.6 Ma), and no volcanic activity has occurred since then. In this study, we investigated the cause of this earthquake swarm using spatiotemporal variation of earthquake hypocenters and seismic reflectors. Hypocenter relocation revealed that earthquakes moved from deep to shallow areas via many planes, similar to earthquake swarms in volcanic regions. The strongest M5.4 earthquake initiated near the migration front of the hypocenters. Moreover, it ruptured the seismic gap between the two different clusters. The initiation of this earthquake swarm occurred at a locally deep depth (z = ~17 km), and we found a distinctive S-wave reflector, suggesting a fluid source in the immediate vicinity. The local hypocenter distribution revealed a characteristic ring-like structure similar to the ring dike that forms just above the magma reservoir and is associated with caldera collapse and/or magma intrusion. These observations suggest that the current seismic activity was impacted by fluids related to ancient or present hidden magmatic activity, although no volcanic activity was reported. Significant crustal deformation was observed during this earthquake swarm, which may also be related to fluid movement and contribute to earthquake occurrences. A seismic gap zone in the center of the swarm region may represent an area with aseismic deformation.

Variations in fault maturity have intermittently been invoked to explain variations in some seismological observations for large earthquakes. However, the lack of a unified geological definition of fault maturity makes quantitative assessment of its importance difficult. We evaluate the degree of empirical correlation between field measurements indicative of fault zone maturity and remotely measured seismological source parameters of 34 large shallow strike-slip events. Metrics based on fault segmentation, such as number of primary rupture segments and surface rupture azimuth, correlate best with seismic source attributes and the correlations with cumulative fault slip are somewhat weaker. Average rupture velocity shows the strongest correlation with metrics of maturity, followed by relative aftershock productivity. Mature faults have relatively lower aftershock productivity and higher rupture velocity. A more complex relation is found with moment-scaled radiated energy. There appears to be distinct behavior of very immature events with no prior mapped fault and < 1 km cumulative slip, which radiate modest seismic energy, while moderately mature faults have events with higher moment-scaled radiated energy and very mature faults with increasing cumulative slip tend to have events with reducing moment-scaled radiated energy. We also explore qualitative and composite assessments of maturity and arrive at similar trends. This empirical approach establishes that there are relationships between remote seismological observations and fault system maturity that can help to understand variations in seismic hazard among different fault environments and to assess the relative maturity of blind fault systems for which direct observations of maturity are very limited.

The presence of the Etendeka flood basalts in northwestern Namibia is taken as evidence for the activity of the Tristan da Cunha mantle plume during the breakup process between Africa and South America. We investigate seismic anisotropy beneath NW Namibia by splitting analysis of core-refracted teleseismic shear waves (XKS phases) to probe mantle flow and lithospheric deformation related to the tectonic history of the region. The waveform data were obtained from 34 onshore stations and 12 Ocean Bottom Seismometers. The results presented here are from joint splitting analysis of multiple XKS phases. The majority of the fast polarization directions (FPDs) exhibit an NE-SW orientation consistent with a model of large-scale mantle flow due to the NE motion of the African plate. No evidence for a direct effect of the mantle plume is observed. In the northern part, we observe NNW-SSE-oriented FPDs that is likely caused by shallow lithospheric structures.

The Ethiopia-Yemen flood basalts are spatially zoned with progressively lower TiO2 lavas from near the Afar depression toward the margins. The timing and rate of emplacement of low TiO2 (LT) lavas are poorly known compared with the ultra-high TiO2 (HT2) lavas. We measured two high-precision 40Ar/39Ar ages of 29.63 ± 0.14 and 30.02 ± 0.22 Ma (2σ) from basalts of the 2-km-thick LT lava sequence at the Afar plume head margin. Using our eruption age model constructed from our and previous 40Ar/39Ar ages with the paleomagnetic directions, we estimate that the LT lava eruption continued over Chrons C12r-C12n-C11r. The eruption of the plume head margin started earlier than the plume head axis emplacement in C12n. Also, the eruption rate was low at the margin, high at the axis. We estimate that the LT lavas are induced by the edge-driven convection, the result of a plume-lithosphere interaction, not a plume head.

Temperature is central for ocean science but is still poorly sampled on the deep ocean. Here, we show that Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology can convert several kilometer long seafloor fiber-optic (FO) telecommunication cables into dense arrays of temperature anomaly sensors with milikelvin (mK) sensitivity, allowing us to monitor oceanic processes such as internal waves and upwelling with unprecedented detail. We validate our observations with oceanographic in-situ sensors and an alternative FO technology. Practical solutions and recent advances are outlined to obtain continuous absolute temperatures with DAS at the seafloor. Our observations grant key advantages to DAS over established temperature sensors, showing its transformative potential for thermometry in ocean sciences and hydrography.

Seismic anisotropy has been detected at many depths of the Earth, including its upper layers, the lowermost mantle, and the inner core. While upper mantle seismic anisotropy is relatively straightforward to resolve, lowermost mantle anisotropy has proven to be more complicated to measure. Due to their long, horizontal raypaths along the core-mantle boundary, S waves diffracted along the core-mantle boundary (Sdiff) are potentially strongly influenced by lowermost mantle anisotropy. Sdiff waves can be recorded over a large epicentral distance range and thus sample the lowermost mantle everywhere around the globe. Sdiff therefore represents a promising phase for studying lowermost mantle anisotropy; however, previous studies have pointed out some difficulties with the interpretation of differential SHdiff-SVdiff travel times in terms of seismic anisotropy. Here, we provide a new, comprehensive assessment of the usability of Sdiff waves to infer lowermost mantle anisotropy. Using both axisymmetric and fully 3D global wavefield simulations, we show that there are cases in which Sdiff can reliably detect and characterize deep mantle anisotropy when measuring traditional splitting parameters (as opposed to differential travel times). First, we analyze isotropic effects on Sdiff polarizations, including the influence of realistic velocity structure (such as 3D velocity heterogeneity and ultra-low velocity zones), the character of the lowermost mantle velocity gradient, mantle attenuation structure, and Earth’s Coriolis force. Second, we evaluate effects of seismic anisotropy in both the upper and the lowermost mantle on SHdiff waves. In particular, we investigate how SHdiff waves are split by seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle near the source and how this anisotropic signature propagates to the receiver for a variety of lowermost mantle models. We demonstrate that, in particular and predictable cases, anisotropy leads to Sdiff splitting that can be clearly distinguished from other waveform effects. These results enable us to lay out a strategy for the analysis of Sdiff splitting due to anisotropy at the base of the mantle, which includes steps to help avoid potential pitfalls, with attention paid to the initial polarization of Sdiff and the influence of source-side anisotropy. We demonstrate our Sdiff splitting method using three earthquakes that occurred beneath the Celebes Sea, measured at many Transportable Array (TA) stations at a suitable epicentral distance. We resolve consistent and well-constrained Sdiff splitting parameters due to lowermost mantle anisotropy beneath the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

Forecasting of hanging glacier instabilities remains challenging as sensing technology focusing on the ice surface fail to detect englacial damage leading to large-scale failure. Here we combine icequake cluster analysis with coda wave interferometry constraining damage growth on Switzerland’s Eiger hanging glacier before a 15,000m3 break-off event. The method focuses on icequake migration within clusters rather than previously proposed “event counting”. Results show that one cluster originated from the glacier front and migrated by 13(+/- 4) m within five weeks before the break-off event. The corresponding crevasse extension separates unstable and stable ice masses. We use the measured source displacement for damage parametrization and find a 90% agreement between an analytical model based on damage mechanics and frontal flow velocities measured with an interferometric radar. Our analysis provides observational constraints for damage growth, which to date is primarily a theoretical concept for modeling englacial fractures.

Constraints on chemical heterogeneities in the upper mantle may be derived from studying the seismically observable impedance contrasts that they produce. Away from subduction zones, several causal mechanisms are possible to explain the intermittently observed X-discontinuity (X) at 230-350km depth: the coesite-stishovite phase transition, the enstatite to clinoenstatite phase transition and/or carbonated silicate melting, all requiring a local enrichment of basalt. Africa hosts a broad range of terranes, from Precambrian cores to Cenozoic hotspots with or without lowermost mantle origins. With the absence of subduction below the margins of the African plate for >0.5Ga, Africa presents an ideal study locale to explore the origins of the X. Traditional receiver function (RF) approaches used to map seismic discontinuities, like common conversion-point stacking, ignore slowness information crucial for discriminating converted upper mantle phases from surface multiples. By manually assessing depth and slowness stacks for 1° radius overlapping bins, normalized vote mapping of RF stacks is used to robustly assess the spatial distribution of converted upper mantle phases. The X is mapped beneath Africa at 233-340km depth, revealing patches of heterogeneity proximal to mantle upwellings in Afar, Canaries, Cape Verde, East Africa, Hoggar, and Réunion with further observations beneath Cameroon, Madagascar, and Morocco. There is a lack of an X beneath southern Africa, and strikingly, the magmatic eastern rift branch of the southern East African Rift. With no relationships existing between depth and amplitudes of observed X and estimated mantle temperatures, multiple causal mechanisms are required across a range of continental geodynamic settings.

The way Alpine rivers mobilize, convey and store coarse material during high-magnitude events is poorly understood, notably because it is difficult to obtain measurements of bedload transport at the watershed scale. Seismic sensor data, evaluated with appropriate seismic physical models, can provide that missing link by yielding absolute time-series of bedload transport. Low cost and ease of installation allows for networks of sensors to be deployed, providing continuous, watershed-scale insights into bedload transport dynamics. Here, we deploy a network of 24 seismic sensors to capture the motion of coarse material in a 13.4 km2 Alpine watershed during a high-magnitude bedload transport event. First, we benchmark the seismic inversion routine with an independent time-series obtained with a calibrated acoustic system. Then, we apply the procedure to the other seismic sensors across the watershed. Spatially-distributed time-series of bedload transport reveal a relative inefficiency of Alpine watersheds in evacuating coarse material, even during a relatively infrequent high-magnitude bedload transport event. Significant inputs measured for some tributaries were rapidly attenuated as the main river crossed less hydraulically-efficient reaches, and only a comparatively negligible proportion of the total amount of material mobilized in the watershed was exported at the outlet. Cross-correlation analysis of the time-series suggests that a faster moving water wave (re-)mobilizes local material and bedload is expected to move slower, and over shorter distances. Multiple periods of competent flows are likely to be necessary to evacuate the coarse material produced throughout the watershed during individual source-mobilizing bedload transport events.

Both volcano-tectonic (VTs) and deep long-period earthquakes (DLPs) have been documented at Akutan Volcano, Alaska and may reflect different active processes. In this study, we perform high-resolution earthquake detection, classification, and relocation using seismic data from 2005-2017 to investigate their relationship with underlying magmatic processes. We find that the 2,787 VTs and 787 DLPs are concentrated above and below the shallow magma reservoir respectively. The DLPs’ low-frequency content is likely a source instead of path effect considering its uniformity across stations. Both VT and DLP swarms occur preferentially during inflation episodes with no clear migration. However, the largest VT swarms occur during non-inflating periods, and only VT swarms contain repeating events. Therefore, we conclude that the VTs represent fault rupture triggered by magma/fluid movement or larger earthquakes, while the DLPs are directly related to unsteady magma movement through a complex pathway or represent slow fault ruptures triggered by magma movement.

Resistivity imaging obtained by a short period magnetotelluric survey identified the electrical resistivity patterns below Vulcano Island to a depth of 2 km below sea level. In the 3D resistivity model, clear contrasts generally characterized the caldera faults, whereas volcanic edifices, craters, volcanic conduits, and/or eruptive fissures corresponded to superficially high resistivity anomalies. Among the most prominent detected structures, a resistive anomaly located below La Fossa crater, which extends 2 km below the surface, likely represents a “conduit” structure, along which magmatic fluids preferably ascend. Other resistivity anomalies, mainly aligned in the N‒S direction, characterized the island sector where considerable amounts of deep subsurface fluids accumulate and mix with the ascending magmas related to the most recent volcanic dynamics. The interpretation of the main features reconstructed through the magnetotelluric investigation significantly contributes to understanding the current unrest at Vulcano.

Slow, aseismic slip plays a crucial role in the initiation, propagation and arrest of large earthquakes along active faults. In addition, aseismic slip controls the budget of elastic strain in the crust, hence the amount of energy available for upcoming earthquakes. The conditions for slow slip include specific material properties of the fault zone, pore fluid pressure and geometrical complexities of the fault plane. Fine scale descriptions of aseismic slip at the surface and at depth are key to determine the factors controlling the occurrence of slow, aseismic versus rapid, seismic fault slip. We focus on the spatial and temporal distribution of aseismic slip along the North Anatolian Fault, the plate boundary accommodating the 2 cm/yr of relative motion between Anatolia and Eurasia. Along the eastern termination of the rupture trace of the 1944 M7.3 Bolu-Gerede earthquake lies a segment that slips aseismically since at least the 1950’s. We use Sentinel 1 time series of displacement and GNSS data to provide a spatio-temporal description of the kinematics of fault slip. We show that aseismic slip observed at the surface is coincident with a shallow locking depth and that slow slip events with a return period of 2.5 years are restricted to a specific section of the fault. In the light of historical measurements, we discuss potential rheological implications of our results and propose a simple alternative model to explain the local occurrence of shallow aseismic slip at this location.

We present a 700 km airborne electromagnetic survey of late-spring fast ice and sub-ice platelet layer (SIPL) thickness distributions, from McMurdo Sound to Cape Adare, providing a first-time inventory of thickness close to its annual maximum. The overall modal consolidated ice (including snow) thickness was 1.9 m, less than its mean of 2.6±1.0 m. Our survey was partitioned into level and rough ice, and SIPL thickness was estimated under level ice. Although results show a prevalence of level ice, with a mode of 2.0 m and mean of 2.0±0.6 m, rough ice covered 41% of the transect by length, 50% by volume, with a mode of 3.3 m and mean of 3.2±1.2 m. The thickest 10% of rough ice was almost 6 m on average, and a 2 km segment in Moubray Bay had a thickness greater than 8 m, demonstrating the overwhelming influence of deformation against coastal features. The fast ice was thus significantly thicker than adjacent pack ice. The presence of a significant SIPL was observed in Silverfish Bay, offshore Hells Gate Ice Shelf, New Harbour, and Granite Harbour where the SIPL transect volume was a significant fraction (0.30) of the consolidated ice volume. The thickest 10% of SIPLs had an average thickness of nearly 3 m, and near Hells Gate Ice Shelf the SIPL was almost 10 m thick, implying vigorous heat loss to the ocean (~ 90Wm-2). We conclude that polynya-induced deformation and interaction with continental ice influence fast ice thickness in the western Ross Sea.