Estimation of Basal Heat Flux Over Ice-Covered Areas From Radio Echo-Sounding

Abstract Two fundamental boundary conditions for basal ice may be recognized by radio echo-sounding: ice–rock and ice–water interfaces. The latter is identified on the basis of horizontal echoes displaying slow fading, high persistent returned power, and with a reflection coefficient lying between –...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Author: Drewry, David J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1979
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000030021
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000030021
Description
Summary:Abstract Two fundamental boundary conditions for basal ice may be recognized by radio echo-sounding: ice–rock and ice–water interfaces. The latter is identified on the basis of horizontal echoes displaying slow fading, high persistent returned power, and with a reflection coefficient lying between –1 and –3 dB. Such water, located beneath an ice sheet, provides a known limiting condition to the vertical temperature profile and allows more precise calculation of the basal temperature gradient and estimation of the heat flux through the sole.