Cold Regions Technical Digest. Radar Profiling of Ice Thickness
Abstract
Large-scale profiling of the thickness of freshwater and sea ice is important for understanding the dynamics of a sea ice covers, interpreting satellite microwave imagery, and predicting air-sea heat exchange or the bearing capacity of an ice cover. A practical approach to thickness sensing would be to use a remote ranging system that sends and receives a pulse of energy that reflects from the bottom of the ice. The time of flight of the pulse would then be calibrated to ice thickness. Acoustic (sonar) systems are not well suited because sound couples inefficiently from air to solids. Resolution would thus be poor unless ultrasonic frequencies were used, in which case too much sound energy would scatter in all directions from ice cracks. Electromagnetic (EM or radiowave) systems are better suited because the energy does couple well from air into non-conducting solids such as ice. Additionally, EM pulses can be made short enough for good resolution without worrying about scattering
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA268384
Entities
People
- Steven A. Arcone
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory