Underway Ice Thickness Profiling Using Impulse Radar - CGC POLAR SEA Experiment, February 1981.

• Main Author: Tebeau,P A
• Other Authors: COAST GUARD RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER GROTON CT
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1982
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment; *RADAR; *SEA ICE; THICKNESS; PROFILES; RADAR REFLECTIONS; SHIPBOARD; RADAR EQUIPMENT; RADAR PULSES; VERY HIGH FREQUENCY; SEA TESTING; ICEBREAKERS; ARCTIC OCEAN; Remote sensing; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barrow; Ice; permafrost; Point Barrow; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA126385; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA126385

A field experiment was conducted in February 1981 to determine the feasibility of impulse radar sea ice profiling from the bow of the icebreaker CGC POLAR SEA. This experiment was conducted in offshore areas to the north and west of Point Barrow Alaska. The objectives of the experiment were to determine the feasibility of taking underway impulse radar profiles from an icebreaker for use in ice surveys and icebreaker performance tests, and to investigate the utility of the impulse radar system as an operational ice reconnaissance tool. The experiment was unsuccessful in that the system was unable to produce a recognizable profile of the ice/water interface over an extended portion of the ship's track. Intermittent subsurface reflections in the profiles could not be identified due to lack of ground truth data. The lack of success was attributed primarily to interference from the ship's hull and limited penetrating power of the radar system used in the tests. (Author)