Techniques for measuring high-resolution firn density profiles: case study from Kongsvegen, Svalbard

On an 11 m firn/ice core from Kongsvegen, Svalbard, we have used dielectric profiling (DEP) to measure electrical properties, and digital photography to measure a core optical stratigraphy (COS) profile. We also used a neutron-scattering probe (NP) to measure a density profile in the borehole from w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hawley, RL, Brandt, O, Morris, EM, Kohler, J, Shepherd, AP, Wingham, DJ
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: INT GLACIOL SOC 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/114116/
Description
Summary:On an 11 m firn/ice core from Kongsvegen, Svalbard, we have used dielectric profiling (DEP) to measure electrical properties, and digital photography to measure a core optical stratigraphy (COS) profile. We also used a neutron-scattering probe (NP) to measure a density profile in the borehole from which the core was extracted. The NP- and DEP-derived density profiles were similar, showing largescale (>30cm) variation in the gravimetric densities of each core section. Fine-scale features (<10cm) are well characterized by the COS record and are seen at a slightly lower resolution in both the DEP and NP records, which show increasing smoothing. A combination of the density accuracy of NP and the spatial resolution of COS provides a useful method of evaluating the shallow-density profile of a glacier, improving paleoclimate interpretation, mass-balance measurement and interpretation of radar returns.