Airborne UHF Radio Echo-Sounding of Three Yukon Glaciers

Abstract

AbstractA high-resolution radio echo-sounder operating at a frequency of 840 MHz has been developed for airborne sounding of small and medium-sized polar glaciers and ice caps. The sounder uses a compact,, high-gain antenna which suppresses valley-wall echoes and simplifies operation from light aircraft, Successful field trials were carried out on Rusty, Trapridge, and Hazard Glaciers, Yukon Territory, Canada. Results compare well with ice depths obtained from earlier ground-based soundings on Rusty and Trapridge Glaciers. The maximum ice thickness encountered was 200 m on Hazard Glacier.Owing to the high operating frequency, random scattering from inhomogeneities within the ice is a major cause of signal degradation. For this reason the sounder cannot penetrate great thicknesses of temperate or debris-rich ice. Spatial averaging, an immediate result of operating from a moving platform, reduces the effects of back-scattered “clutter”.