The exploration of ice distribution on the Moon and in other extraterrestrial environments has recently accelerated because of the growing interest in the distribution of ice in, and its acquisition from, the Moon's polar regions. Understanding of the relationship between the mass fraction of ice and the velocities of P-wave and Swave is expected to allow ice amounts to be estimated from seismic exploration results. To clarify this relationship, we numerically investigated the effect of ice on elastic wave velocities using a digital rock physics approach for regolith with heterogeneous pore geometries. We digitized a lunar regolith simulant and modeled ice distribution in its pore spaces. Numerical simulations employing a finite element method were then performed to calculate the P-wave and S-wave velocities of the regolith simulant while varying the ice particle size and the mass fraction of ice. The results demonstrate that the characteristics of the velocity changes with increases in the mass fraction of ice differ depending on the particle size distribution of the ice. For the same mass fraction of ice, P-wave and S-wave velocities are higher for smaller ice clusters (up to 1.75 times for P-wave velocity and 1.76 times for S-wave velocity). Using the numerical simulation results, we succeeded in developing an empirical equation for estimating the mass fraction of ice from P-wave and S-wave velocities. This equation should be useful for quantifying ice content from lunar seismic survey data.

Permafrost in the NE European Russian Arctic is suffering from some of the highest degradation rates in the world. The rising mean annual air temperature causes warming permafrost, the increase in the active layer thickness (ALT), and the reduction of the permafrost extent. These phenomena represent a serious risk for infrastructures and human activities. ALT characterization is important to estimate the degree of permafrost degradation. We used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the ALT distribution in the Khanovey railway station area (close to Vorkuta, Arctic Russia), where thaw subsidence leads to railroad vertical deformations up to 2.5 cm/year. Geocryological surveys, including vegetation analysis and underground temperature measurements, together with the faster and less invasive electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) geophysical method, were used to investigate the frozen/unfrozen ground settings between the railroad and the Vorkuta River. Borehole stratigraphy and landscape microzonation indicated a massive prevalence of clay and silty clay sediments at shallow depths in this area. The complex refractive index method (CRIM) was used to integrate and quantitatively validate the results. The data analysis showed landscape heterogeneity and maximum ALT and permafrost thickness values of about 7 and 50 m, respectively. The active layer was characterized by resistivity values ranging from about 30 to 100 omega m, whereas the underlying permafrost resistivity exceeded 200 omega m, up to a maximum of about 10 k omega m. In the active layer, there was a coexistence of frozen and unfrozen unconsolidated sediments, where the ice content estimated using the CRIM ranged from about 0.3 - 0.4 to 0.9. Moreover, the transition zone between the active layer base and the permafrost table, whose resistivity values ranged from 100 to 200 omega m for this kind of sediments, showed ice contents ranging from 0.9 to 1.0. Taliks were present in some depressions of the study area, characterized by minimum resistivity values lower than 10 omega m. This thermokarst activity was more active close to the railroad because of the absence of insulating vegetation. This study contributes to better understanding of the spatial variability of cryological conditions, and the result is helpful in addressing engineering solutions for the stability of the railway.