An Icy Ear

The world's deepest sensors will hear earthquakes anywhere on the planet

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Researchers drilled 8,000 feet into South Pole ice to install two seismometers.

ON THE SURFACE, Antarctica’s vast ice sheet appears still and unchanging. But deep below, vibrations ripple through the frozen plain, transmitting the movements of Earth’s tectonic plates—and scientists now have a formidable new set of tools to listen in with. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), collaborating with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, has installed the deepest seismometers ever deployed. At 8,000 feet under the ice, the two instruments will record earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater anywhere on the planet with unprecedented accuracy and help to reveal new details of Earth’s deep interior in the process.