Morphology of bottom surfaces of glacier ice tongues in the East Antarctic region

• Main Authors: Bianchi, C., Chiappini, M., Tabacco, I. E., Passerini, A., Zirizzotti, A., Zuccheretti, E.
• Other Authors: Bianchi, C.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Chiappini, M.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Tabacco, I. E.; Università di Milano, Sezione Geofisica, Milano, Italy, Passerini, A.; Università di Milano Bicocca, Dipartimento di Fisica, Milano, Italy, Zirizzotti, A.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Zuccheretti, E.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Università di Milano, Sezione Geofisica, Milano, Italy, Università di Milano Bicocca, Dipartimento di Fisica, Milano, Italy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: radio echo sounding; radio glaciology; glacier ice tongues; 02. Cryosphere::02.02. Glaciers::02.02.03. Geomorphology; 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole; radioactivity; remote sensing; and other methods; Antarctic; Victoria Land; George V Land; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2122/1192

During three Antarctic summer campaigns (1995/97/99) Radio Echo Sounding (RES) system data from some glacier ice tongues in the East Antarctic regions between Victoria Land and George V Land were collected. The morphology and structure of the bottom surfaces deduced from the electromagnetic interpretation of echo signal were observed. The bottom surfaces at the ice/water interface show either irregular or flat contours or both. Some ice tongues are nearly perfectly flat, others show clear signs of irregularities while three of them have good regular spaced rippled bottom surfaces. The latter structures are well-evident in the longitudinal traverse of the tongues, whereas the transversal paths do not show the same features. This particular shape of the bottom surfaces related to the ablation process and detachment mechanism could be interesting especially to determine some physical characteristics and the possible fracture points of the ice tongues. JCR Journal open