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Radioglaciology is the study of glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps and icy moons using ice penetrating radar. It employs a geophysical method similar to ground-penetrating radar and typically operates at frequencies in the MF, HF, VHF and UHF portions of the radio spectrum. [1] [2] [3] [4] This technique is also commonly referred to as "Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR)" or "Radio Echo Sounding (RES)".
Glaciers are particularly well suited to investigation by radar because the conductivity, imaginary part of the permittivity, and the dielectric absorption of ice are small at radio frequencies resulting in low loss tangent, skin depth, and attenuation values. This allows echoes from the base of the ice sheet to be detected through ice thicknesses greater than 4 km. [5] [6] The subsurface observation of ice masses using radio waves has been an integral and evolving geophysical technique in glaciology for over half a century. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Its most widespread uses have been the measurement of ice thickness, subglacial topography, and ice sheet stratigraphy. [15] [8] [5] It has also been used to observe the subglacial and conditions of ice sheets and glaciers, including hydrology, thermal state, accumulation, flow history, ice fabric, and bed geology. [1] In planetary science, ice penetrating radar has also been used to explore the subsurface of the Polar Ice Caps on Mars and comets. [16] [17] [18] Missions are planned to explore the icy moons of Jupiter. [19] [20]
Radioglaciology uses nadir facing radars to probe the subsurface of glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps, and icy moons and to detect reflected and scattered energy from within and beneath the ice. [8] This geometry tends to emphasize coherent and specular reflected energy resulting in distinct forms of the radar equation. [21] [22] Collected radar data typically undergoes signal processing ranging from stacking (or pre-summing) to migration to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) focusing in 1, 2, or 3 dimensions. [23] [24] [25] [22] This data is collected using ice penetrating radar systems which range from commercial (or bespoke) ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems [26] [27] to coherent, chirped airborne sounders [28] [29] [30] to swath-imaging, [31] multi-frequency, [32] or polarimetric [33] implementations of such systems. Additionally, stationary, phase-sensitive, and Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars [34] [35] [36] have been used to observe snow, [37] ice shelf melt rates, [38] englacial hydrology, [39] ice sheet structure, [40] and vertical ice flow. [41] [42] Interferometric analysis of airborne systems have also been demonstrated to measure vertical ice flow. [43] Additionally, radioglaciological instruments have been developed to operate on autonomous platforms, [44] on in-situ probes, [45] in low-cost deployments, [46] using Software Defined Radios, [47] and exploiting ambient radio signals for passive sounding. [48] [49]
The most common scientific application for radioglaciological observations is measuring ice thickness and bed topography. This includes interpolated "bed maps", [6] [50] [51] [52] widely used in ice sheet modeling and sea level rise projections, studies exploring specific ice-sheet regions, [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] and observations of glacier beds. [58] [59] [60] [61] The strength and character of radar echoes from the bed of the ice sheet are also used to investigate the reflectivity [62] [27] of the bed, the attenuation [63] [64] [65] of radar in the ice, and the morphology of the bed. [66] [67] [68] In addition bed echoes, radar returns from englacial layers [69] are used in studies of the radio stratigraphy of ice sheets [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] including investigations of ice accumulation, [75] [76] [77] [78] [79] flow, [80] [81] [82] [83] and fabric [84] [85] as well as absence or disturbances of that stratigraphy. [86] [87] [88] Radioglaciology data has also been used extensively to study subglacial lakes [89] [90] [91] [92] [93] [94] and glacial hydrology [95] including englacial water, [96] [97] [98] firn aquifers, [99] and their temporal evolution. [100] [39] [101] Ice penetrating radar data has also been used to investigate the subsurface of ice shelves including their grounding zones, [102] [103] melt rates, [104] [105] brine distribution, [106] and basal channels. [107]
There are currently two ice-penetrating radars orbiting Mars: MARSIS and SHARAD. [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] An ice penetrating radar was also part of the ROSETTA mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. [17] Ice penetrating radars are also included in the payloads of two planned missions to the icy moons of Jupiter: JUICE and Europa Clipper. [19] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122] [123]
The International Glaciological Society (IGS) holds a periodic series of symposia focused on radioglaciology. In 2008, the "Symposium on Radioglaciology and its Applications" was hosted at the Technical University of Madrid. In 2013, the "Symposium on Radioglaciology" was hosted at the University of Kansas. In 2019, the "Symposium of Five Decades of Radioglaciology" was hosted at Stanford University.
The following books and papers cover important topics in radioglaciology
Research and education in radioglaciology is undertaken at universities and research institutes around the world. These groups found in institutions and departments that span physical geography, geophysics, earth science, planetary science, electrical engineering, and related disciplines.
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi). The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or alpine glaciers. Masses of ice covering less than 50,000 km2 are termed an ice cap. An ice cap will typically feed a series of glaciers around its periphery.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains that lies in the Western Hemisphere. It is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating ice shelves. The WAIS is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf, the Ronne Ice Shelf, and outlet glaciers that drain into the Amundsen Sea.
Berkner Island is an Antarctic ice rise, where bedrock below sea level has caused the surrounding ice sheet to create a dome. If the ice cap were removed, the island would be underwater. Berkner Island is completely ice-covered and is about 320 kilometres (200 mi) long and 150 kilometres (93 mi) wide, with an area of 44,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi). It is surrounded by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The northernmost point of the Berkner is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the open sea. It lies in the overlapping portion of the Argentine and the British Antarctic territorial claims.
Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of 1,610,000 km2 (620,000 sq mi), it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th century.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, asphalt, metals, pipes, cables or masonry. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. GPR can have applications in a variety of media, including rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures. In the right conditions, practitioners can use GPR to detect subsurface objects, changes in material properties, and voids and cracks.
A subglacial lake is a lake that is found under a glacier, typically beneath an ice cap or ice sheet. Subglacial lakes form at the boundary between ice and the underlying bedrock, where liquid water can exist above the lower melting point of ice under high pressure. Over time, the overlying ice gradually melts at a rate of a few millimeters per year. Meltwater flows from regions of high to low hydraulic pressure under the ice and pools, creating a body of liquid water that can be isolated from the external environment for millions of years.
Denman Glacier is a glacier that is 11 to 16 km wide, descending north some 110 km (70 mi), which debouches into the Shackleton Ice Shelf east of David Island, Queen Mary Land. It was discovered in November 1912 by the Western Base party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson. Mawson named the glacier for Lord Denman, Governor-General of Australia in 1911, a patron of the expedition.
Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is a large ice stream, and the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica, responsible for about 25% of Antarctica's ice loss. The glacier ice streams flow west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy (USN) air photos, 1960–66, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) in association with Pine Island Bay.
Thwaites Glacier is an unusually broad and vast Antarctic glacier located east of Mount Murphy, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land. It was initially sighted by polar researchers in 1940, mapped in 1959–1966 and officially named in 1967, after the late American glaciologist Fredrik T. Thwaites. The glacier flows into Pine Island Bay, part of the Amundsen Sea, at surface speeds which exceed 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) per year near its grounding line. Its fastest-flowing grounded ice is centered between 50 and 100 kilometres east of Mount Murphy. Like many other parts of the cryosphere, it has been adversely affected by climate change, and provides one of the more notable examples of the retreat of glaciers since 1850.
Photoclinometry, or shape-from-shading, is the process by which a 2-dimensional image of a surface is transformed into a surface map that represents different levels of elevation. It uses the shadows and light direction as reference points. It is used mostly to depict the surface of sculptures, to give an idea of how it would look in 3-dimensions. The techniques depend on very specific conditions, especially light direction.
Totten Glacier is a large glacier draining a major portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, through the Budd Coast of Wilkes Land in the Australian Antarctic Territory. The catchment drained by the glacier is estimated at 538,000 km2 (208,000 sq mi), extending approximately 1,100 km (680 mi) into the interior and holds the potential to raise sea level by at least 3.5 m (11 ft). Totten drains northeastward from the continental ice but turns northwestward at the coast where it terminates in a prominent tongue close east of Cape Waldron. It was first delineated from aerial photographs taken by USN Operation Highjump (1946–47), and named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for George M. Totten, midshipman on USS Vincennes of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42), who assisted Lieutenant Charles Wilkes with correction of the survey data obtained by the expedition.
The West Antarctic Rift System is a series of rift valleys between East and West Antarctica. It encompasses the Ross Embayment, the Ross Sea, the area under the Ross Ice Shelf and a part of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica, reaching to the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. It has an estimated length of 3,000 km (1,900 mi) and a width of approximately 700 km (430 mi). Its evolution is due to lithospheric thinning of an area of Antarctica that resulted in the demarcation of East and West Antarctica. The scale and evolution of the rift system has been compared to that of the Basin and Range Province of the Western United States.
Aurora Subglacial Basin is a large subglacial basin of Wilkes Land to the west of Dome Charlie and trending northwest toward the coast in the vicinity of Shackleton Ice Shelf. The basin was delineated by the SPRI-NSF-TUD airborne radio echo sounding program, 1967–79, and named after Aurora, the ship of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–14, led by Douglas Mawson.
Crane Glacier is a narrow glacier which flows 30 miles (50 km) in an east-northeasterly direction along the northwest side of Aristotle Mountains to enter Spillane Fjord south of Devetaki Peak, on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Sir Hubert Wilkins photographed this feature from the air in 1928 and gave it the name "Crane Channel", after C.K. Crane of Los Angeles, reporting that it appeared to be a channel cutting in an east-west direction across the peninsula. The name was altered to "Crane Inlet" following explorations along the west coast of the peninsula in 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition, which proved that no through channel from the east coast existed as indicated by Wilkins. Comparison of Wilkins' photograph of this feature with those taken in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey shows that Wilkins' "Crane Channel" is this glacier, although it lies about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of the position originally reported by Wilkins.
Fletcher Ice Rise, or Fletcher Promontory, is a large ice rise, 100 miles (160 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide, at the southwest side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The feature is completely ice covered and rises between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet. The ice rise was observed, photographed and roughly sketched by Lieutenant Ronald F. Carlson, U.S. Navy, in the course of a C-130 aircraft flight of December 14–15, 1961 from McMurdo Sound to this vicinity and returning. It was mapped in detail by the U.S. Geological Survey from Landsat imagery taken 1973–74, and was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Joseph O. Fletcher, director of the Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 1971–74.
Raymond Effect is a flow effect in ice sheets, occurring at flow divides, which gives rise to disturbances in the stratigraphy, showing unusual arches or anticlines called Raymond Arches. The stratigraphy is detected by radio-echo sounding. The Raymond Effect arises from the unusual flow properties of ice, as its viscosity decreases with stress. It is of importance because it provides field evidence for the flow properties of ice. In addition, it permits dating of changes in ice flow and the establishment of changes in ice thickness. The effect was first predicted by Charles F. Raymond. Raymond Arches and the Raymond Effect have been observed at numerous other ice divides e.g. Siple Dome, Fletcher Ice Rise, Berkner Island, Roosevelt Island, and Korff Ice Rise.
Frank Jean-Marie Léon Pattyn is a Belgian glaciologist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is best known for developing ice-sheet models and leading model intercomparisons.
Martin J. Siegert is a British glaciologist, and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter. He co-Chairs the Diversity in Polar Science Initiative, and has spoken about socio-economic inclusion in Polar Science and indeed broader society.
Salty subglacial lakes are controversially inferred from radar measurements to exist below the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD) in Ultimi Scopuli of Mars' southern ice cap. The idea of subglacial lakes due to basal melting at the polar ice caps on Mars was first hypothesized in the 1980s. For liquid water to persist below the SPLD, researchers propose that perchlorate is dissolved in the water, which lowers the freezing temperature, but other explanations such as saline ice or hydrous minerals have been offered. Challenges for explaining sufficiently warm conditions for liquid water to exist below the southern ice cap include low amounts of geothermal heating from the subsurface and overlying pressure from the ice. As a result, it is disputed whether radar detections of bright reflectors were instead caused by other materials such as saline ice or deposits of minerals such as clays. While lakes with salt concentrations 20 times that of the ocean pose challenges for life, potential subglacial lakes on Mars are of high interest for astrobiology because microbial ecosystems have been found in deep subglacial lakes on Earth, such as in Lake Whillans in Antarctica below 800 m of ice.
An ice shelf basal channel is a type of subglacial meltwater channel that forms on the underside of floating ice shelves connected to ice sheets. Basal channels are generally rounded cavities which form parallel to ice sheet flow. These channels are found mainly around the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in places with relatively warm ocean water. West Antarctica in particular has the highest density of basal channels in the world. Basal channels can be tens of kilometers long, kilometers wide, and incise hundreds of meters up into an ice shelf. These channels can evolve and grow just as rapidly as ice shelves can, with some channels having incision rates approaching 22 meters per year. Basal channels are categorized based on what mechanisms created them and where they formed.