Radar and Snow Structure Studies in the Percolation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet: A Data Report on the 1993 Field Season at Dye-2

• Main Authors: Zabel, Ingrid H.H., Baggeroer, Paul A., Jezek, Kenneth C.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University 1994
• Subjects: Snow physical properties; Snow radar observations; Snow pits > Greenland Ice Sheet; Greenland field season 1993; Byrd; Greenland; Byrd Polar Research; Byrd Polar Research Center; Ice Sheet; Polar Research
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/54597

From June 18 to July 12, 1993, a Byrd Polar Research Center team undertook radar and snow physical properties studies near Dye-2, in the percolation zone of Greenland's ice sheet. These studies were intended to advance our understanding of the microwave scattering properties of the ice sheet, in order to better interpret satellite remote sensing signals for mass balance and climate studies. This report summarizes the experiments performed and the data collected. Table I summarizes a list of our measurement objectives. In general terms, our work at Dye-2 consisted of making radar observations of the snow at Ku-band (13.5 GHz) and a variety of incidence angles. The radar frequency is the same as that of the radar altimeter aboard the ERS-1 satellite. In conjunction with the radar observations, we dug pits in the snow and recorded physical properties such as snow stratigraphy, density, and grain sizes. In section 2 we present a map of the camp and experiment sites. In sections 3 and 4 we describe the pit and radar studies in detail. Finally, section 5 is a detailed chronology of the field season.