Radio Echo Sounding Studies of Svalbard Glaciers ...

• Main Author: Bamber, Jonathan L.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 1987
• Subjects: Svalbard; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.14160; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/268048

The objective of this study was to investigate the radio echo sounding properties of Svalbard glaciers and to use these data to obtain information about the glaciological environment. Particular emphasis was placed on obtaining an understanding of the dielectric properties of the ice and reflecting boundaries present. These were then used to elucidate the physical processes causing them. First, a theoretical model, describing the dielectric properties of a wet bed, was developed. The ice/bed interface was then investigated using, as the primary data source, radar reflection coefficients. From these data inferences about the presence of water and/or debris, roughness of the interface and geographical trends were made. A number of geological divides were detected. Second, the dielectric properties of Svalbard ice were considered using i) radio echo sounding data on the bulk in situ radar absorption and ii) measurements made on the dielectric properties of a sample of Spitsbergen ice. Data were collected ...