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Phase-sensitive radar measurements of glacial processes

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 5, page 485 (2024)Cite this article

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The stability and evolution of ice sheets, ice shelves and glaciers are determined by their mass balance and flow dynamics. The Antarctic ice sheet is surrounded by ice shelves, where mass is lost through iceberg calving at the ice shelf fronts and ocean-induced basal melting. The transport of mass by ice flow from the interior to the ice shelves is influenced by the ice fabric, which describes the distribution of the orientation of ice crystals. In situ data of basal melting and ice fabric are therefore needed to accurately predict ice sheet evolution. However, such data are scarce because conventional observation methods, such as ice coring, are time-intensive and expensive.

ApRES measurements can be performed efficiently at multiple locations across large areas. For example, ApRES devices have been used to measure the basal melt rate and ice fabric across 120 km of the central flowline of the Ekström ice shelf. Additionally, stationary deployments provide high temporal resolution and coverage (hourly over the course of a year), facilitating the observation of dynamic processes such as tidal effects on basal melting or seasonally varying englacial deformation. ApRES devices are low cost and processing codes are open source. Therefore, similar surveys have been conducted by multiple research groups at many sites. The magnitude of available ApRES data has improved understanding of many glacial processes and facilitates their incorporation into ice flow models.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) for financial support through a doctoral scholarship. The Autonomous phase-sensitive Radio Echo Sounder (ApRES) was developed by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and University College London (UCL).

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  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Falk M. Oraschewski

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  1. Falk M. Oraschewski
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Correspondence to Falk M. Oraschewski.

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Oraschewski, F.M. Phase-sensitive radar measurements of glacial processes. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 485 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00571-9

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