UV and optical light transmission properties in deep ice at the South Pole

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Askebjer, P., Barwick, S. W., Halzen, F., Heukenkamp, H., Hulth, P. O., Hundertmark, S., Jacobsen, J., Kandhadai, V., Karle, A., Liubarsky, I., Lowder, D., Miller, T., Bergström, L., Mock, P., Morse, R., Porrata, R., Price, P. B., Richards, A., Rubinstein, H., Schneider, E., Spiering, Ch., Streicher, O., Sun, Q., Bouchta, A., Thon, Th., Tilav, S., Wischnewski, R., Walck, C., Yodh, G., AMANDA Collaboration, Carius, S., Dalberg, E., Erlandsson, B., Goobar, A., Gray, L., Hallgren, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1997
• Subjects: info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550; Antarctic; The Antarctic; South Pole; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/332028; https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/search?p=id:%22PUBDB-2017-08316%22

Both absorption and scattering of light at wavelengths 410 to 610 nanometers were measured in the South Pole ice at depths 0.8 to 1 kilometer with the laser calibration system of the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA). At the shortest wavelengths the absorption lengths exceeded 200 meters—an order of magnitude longer than has been reported for laboratory ice. The absorption shows a strong wavelength dependence while the scattering length is found to be independent of the wavelength, consistent with the hypothesis of a residual density of air bubbles in the ice. The observed linear decrease of the inverse scattering length with depth is compatible with an earlier measurement by the AMANDA collaboration (at ∼515 nanometers).