Radio Echo Studies of Glaciers ...

There is a need for measurements of the thickness of glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves. Radio waves propagating in naturally occurring ice masses are attenuated by absorption in the conducting medium, by reflection from discontinuities, and by scattering from inhomogeneities. These scattering ce...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ewen Smith, Beverley Michael
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 1971
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.44987
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/297933
Description
Summary:There is a need for measurements of the thickness of glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves. Radio waves propagating in naturally occurring ice masses are attenuated by absorption in the conducting medium, by reflection from discontinuities, and by scattering from inhomogeneities. These scattering centres nay be impurities, free water, or solid ice within less dense firn. A v.h. f. radar system has been designed specifically to produce continuous profiles of ice thickness when used either on the surface of a glacier, or in an aircraft flying over it. The frequency dependence of the attenuation mechanisms influences the choice of radio frequency used by the echo sounder. Electronic control and annotation circuits have been developed for use in the echo sounder and its data recording system, to simplify field operation and avoid errors caused by mistakes in manual recording and annotation. The author has tested the equipment on glaciers in Norway and in the Antarctic, where extensive measurements of ice ...