Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar
Abstract The ice-thickness profiling performance of a helicopter-mounted short-pulse radar operating at approximate center frequencies of 600 and 900 MHz was assessed. The antenna packages were mounted 1.2 m off the skid of a small helicopter whose speed and altitude were varied from about 1.8 to 9...
Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1987
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000008923 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000008923 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000008923 2024-03-03T08:46:04+00:00 Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar Arcone, Steven A Delaney, Allan J 1987 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000008923 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000008923 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 33, issue 115, page 330-340 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 1987 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000008923 2024-02-08T08:36:10Z Abstract The ice-thickness profiling performance of a helicopter-mounted short-pulse radar operating at approximate center frequencies of 600 and 900 MHz was assessed. The antenna packages were mounted 1.2 m off the skid of a small helicopter whose speed and altitude were varied from about 1.8 to 9 m/s and 3 to 12 m. Clutter from the helicopter offered minimal interference with the ice data. Data were acquired in Alaska over lakes (as a proving exercise) and two rivers, whose conditions varied from open water to over 1.5 m of solid ice with numerous frazil-ice formations. The most readily interpretable data were acquired when the ice or snow surface was smooth. Detailed surface investigations on the Tanana River revealed good correlations of echo delay with solid ice depth, but an insensitivity to frazil-ice depth due to its high water content. On the Yukon River, coinciding temporally coherent surface and bottom reflections were associated with solid ice and smooth surfaces. All cases of incoherent surface returns (scatter) occurred over ice rubble. Rough-surface scattering was always followed by the appearance of bottom scattering but, in many cases, including a hanging-wall formation of solid frazil ice, bottom scattering occurred beneath coherent, smooth-surface reflections. Areas of incoherent bottom scattering investigated by drilling revealed highly variable ice conditions, including frazil ice. The minimum ice thickness that could be resolved from the raw data was about 0.2 m with the 600 MHz antenna and less than 0.15 m with the 900 MHz antenna. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Yukon river Alaska Yukon Cambridge University Press Yukon Journal of Glaciology 33 115 330 340 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Arcone, Steven A Delaney, Allan J Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract The ice-thickness profiling performance of a helicopter-mounted short-pulse radar operating at approximate center frequencies of 600 and 900 MHz was assessed. The antenna packages were mounted 1.2 m off the skid of a small helicopter whose speed and altitude were varied from about 1.8 to 9 m/s and 3 to 12 m. Clutter from the helicopter offered minimal interference with the ice data. Data were acquired in Alaska over lakes (as a proving exercise) and two rivers, whose conditions varied from open water to over 1.5 m of solid ice with numerous frazil-ice formations. The most readily interpretable data were acquired when the ice or snow surface was smooth. Detailed surface investigations on the Tanana River revealed good correlations of echo delay with solid ice depth, but an insensitivity to frazil-ice depth due to its high water content. On the Yukon River, coinciding temporally coherent surface and bottom reflections were associated with solid ice and smooth surfaces. All cases of incoherent surface returns (scatter) occurred over ice rubble. Rough-surface scattering was always followed by the appearance of bottom scattering but, in many cases, including a hanging-wall formation of solid frazil ice, bottom scattering occurred beneath coherent, smooth-surface reflections. Areas of incoherent bottom scattering investigated by drilling revealed highly variable ice conditions, including frazil ice. The minimum ice thickness that could be resolved from the raw data was about 0.2 m with the 600 MHz antenna and less than 0.15 m with the 900 MHz antenna. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arcone, Steven A Delaney, Allan J |
author_facet |
Arcone, Steven A Delaney, Allan J |
author_sort |
Arcone, Steven A |
title |
Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
title_short |
Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
title_full |
Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
title_fullStr |
Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
title_full_unstemmed |
Airborne River-Ice Thickness Profiling with Helicopter-Borne UHF Short-Pulse Radar |
title_sort |
airborne river-ice thickness profiling with helicopter-borne uhf short-pulse radar |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1987 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000008923 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000008923 |
geographic |
Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Yukon |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology Yukon river Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology Yukon river Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 33, issue 115, page 330-340 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000008923 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
115 |
container_start_page |
330 |
op_container_end_page |
340 |
_version_ |
1792501935782232064 |