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USGS scientists have installed two seismometers in Antarctica about 2.4 km under the ice, the deepest ever recorded. Utilizing the IceCube Observatory structure at the South Pole, the sensors will enhance the global earthquake monitoring network, tsunami alerts, and nuclear test oversight.
Scientists from the United States have just installed the deepest seismometers ever recorded on the planet in Antarctica. The two devices were buried about 2.4 kilometers under the South Pole ice by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in a project aimed at strengthening global earthquake monitoring, supporting tsunami alerts, and overseeing nuclear tests.
The installation took advantage of a hole about 2,500 meters deep drilled with the technology of the Neutrino Observatory IceCube, at the same location where the United States has been researching particles for years. The operation, completed at the beginning of 2026, is the result of a partnership of over 60 years of the USGS in Antarctica and expands the Global Seismographic Network.
How the world’s deepest seismometers were installed in Antarctica
Robert Anthony/USGS
The technical feat is noteworthy. The seismometers were lowered more than 8,000 feet, about 2.4 kilometers, under the ice cap, becoming the deepest ever deployed. The equipment arrived in Antarctica in December 2025, and the permanent system, nicknamed “deep ice,” was completed in January 2026, utilizing a hole opened with the IceCube drilling technology.
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The time was short. The hole remained open for only 72 hours, a sufficient window to lower a pressure vessel with a Trillium 360-type seismometer and a data recorder, before the cold itself naturally sealed the hole, without the need to add snow or material. The equipment was designed to withstand the extreme cold and intense pressure of the depths, where the seismometers are suspended inside the ice, permanently.
Why bury seismometers under the South Pole ice
The choice of location is not by chance. The interior of Antarctica is one of the coldest, quietest, and most stable environments on the planet, free from the interferences that exist on the surface. This allows the sensors to detect subtle seismic signals with unprecedented clarity, capturing everything from long-period waves to high-frequency tremors.
In practice, the instruments can record earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater anywhere on Earth. Besides identifying large tremors, the data helps the scientific community study ice movement, global seismicity, and the planet’s internal structure itself, as seismic waves change speed and direction when crossing the Earth’s different layers.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear tests: what the data is for
The new sensors join the Global Seismographic Network, maintained by the USGS in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF). This network is the backbone of global seismic monitoring, and the equipment in Antarctica expands its capacity precisely in a strategic and sparsely covered region.
The applications go beyond basic science. The data strengthens the monitoring of earthquakes, supports tsunami alerts, which depend on the rapid detection of underwater tremors, and contributes to the oversight of nuclear tests, as such explosions also generate detectable seismic waves. Overall, this increases global security and the ability to respond to natural disasters.
The partnership with IceCube and six decades of science in Antarctica
According to information from the CNN Brasil portal, the project was only possible thanks to a collaboration between the Albuquerque Seismological Observatory, the USGS, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the NSF. The IceCube is composed of 86 wells about 2,500 meters deep, originally drilled to house thousands of photodetectors that hunt neutrinos. It was this structure, already in place in the ice, that paved the way for installing the seismometers at an unprecedented depth.
The movement also consolidates a long history. The USGS has been operating at the South Pole for over 60 years, and the new equipment represents a leap in geophysical research infrastructure. It is a milestone for Earth science, and the expectation is that new monitoring points in Antarctica can follow the same path, further expanding the planet’s seismic surveillance network.
Sensors buried 2.4 km under the ice of Antarctica, capable of “hearing” earthquakes from the other side of the world, show how far science can go.
Tell us in the comments if you imagined that the South Pole could become a great ear for the planet’s tremors and what else you would like to understand about these seismometers.
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