Project Title

Collaborative Research: EAGER: A Dual-Band Radar for Measuring Internal Ice Deformation: a Multipass Ice-Penetrating Radar Experiment on Thwaites Glacier and the McMurdo Ice Shelf

Summary

Event Number:
I-163-M
NSF / OPP Award 2027579

Program Director:
Dr. Kelly Brunt

ASC POC/Implementer:
Lesley Anderson / Jenny Cunningham

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Knut A Christianson
knut@uw.edu
University of Washington
Earth and Space Sciences

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: McMurdo Ice Shelf

Description

This project will develop a new ice-penetrating radar system that can simultaneously map glacier geometry and glacier flow along repeat profiles. The new radar system will integrate two existing radars (the multi-channel coherent radio-echo depth sounder and the accumulation radar) developed by the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, as well as adding new capabilities. An eight-element very high frequency (VHF; 140-215 MHz) array will have sufficient cross-track aperture to swath map internal layers and the ice-sheet base in three dimensions. A single ultra-high frequency (UHF; 600-900 MHz) antenna will have the range and phase resolution to map internal layer displacement with 0.25-mm precision. The VHF array will create 3D mappings of layer geometry that enable measurements of vertical velocities by accounting for spatial offsets between repeat profiles and changing surface conditions. The vertical displacement measurement will then be made by determining the difference in radar phase response recorded by the UHF antenna for radar profiles collected at the same locations at different times.

Field Season Overview

The field goals for 2023-24 build on work conducted during the first year of this project. There are two primary goals this year: (1) Repeat visits to a line surveyed last year to measure long-term (viscous) deformation due to ice flow; and (2) surveys over features of interest discovered last year that may exhibit particularly rapid deformation in respond to tidal flexure (visco-elastic deformation). Two participants deployed under C-442-M will visit the Eastwind Glacier field site over 1-2 day trips to drive a repeat radar profile before deploying to West Antarctica with C-442-M. Upon return to McMurdo in late January the participants, along with two other participants deployed under C-442-M or C-446-M, will set up camp at Eastwind Glacier for one week to continue repeat measurements over features of interest, collecting data at different points in the tidal cycle.

Deploying Team Members