Estimating Sea Ice Thickness Using Time-of-Flight Data from Impulse Radar Soundings

Two second-year sea ice floes were probed using 'impulse' radar sounding and direct drilling methods. The resulting two-way time of flight of the impulse radar EM wavelet, traveling from the surface to the ice 'bottom' and back to the surface, was compared with snow and ice thick...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kovacs, Austin, Morey, Rexford M.
Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1989
Subjects:
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment
*THICKNESS
*SEA ICE
*RADAR
*SOUNDING
SNOW COVER
PULSES
FLIGHT
CONSTANTS
BOTTOM
DRILLING
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
SURFACES
TIME
ICE
IMPULSE RADAR SOUNDINGS
Ice
permafrost
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA218736
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA218736
Description
Summary:Two second-year sea ice floes were probed using 'impulse' radar sounding and direct drilling methods. The resulting two-way time of flight of the impulse radar EM wavelet, traveling from the surface to the ice 'bottom' and back to the surface, was compared with snow and ice thickness data obtained from a drill hole. From this comparison, simple relationships are presented that provide an estimate of the thickness of sea ice, from a bout 1 to 8 m thick, with or without a snow cover. Relations are also presented that show the bulk or apparent dielectric constant of the ice floes vs ice thickness, again with or without the snow cover. The data revealed that the apparent dielectric constant of the sea ice decreased with increasing ice thickness from a value of about 7 for ice 1 thick to about 3.5 for ice 6 m thick. Keywords: Field studies; Impulse radar soundings; Radar; Sea ice; Sea ice thickness.

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