Autonomous rover enables radar profiling of ice-fabric properties in Antarctica

Ershadi, M. Reza, Drews, Reinhard, Hawkins, Jonathan D., Elliott, Joshua, Lines, Austin P., Koch, Inka and Eisen, Olaf 2024. Autonomous rover enables radar profiling of ice-fabric properties in Antarctica. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 62 , 5913809. 10.1109/TGRS.2024.3394594

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (13MB) | Preview

Abstract

A ground-penetrating radar is an extensively used geophysical tool in cryosphere sciences (ice sheets and glaciers) with sounding depths of several kilometers due to the small radio-wave attenuation in ice sheets. The detection of the ice thickness and internal ice stratigraphy with commercial radars has become standard. However, there is still an observational gap in determining dielectric and mechanical ice-fabric anisotropy and basal properties using these systems. Recently, a ground-based phase-coherent radar showed its potential to fill this gap. However, this requires that the corresponding ground-based radars cover profiles several tens of kilometers in length. We address this challenge by modifying an autonomous rover to collect phase-coherent, quad-polarimetric radar data geolocated with real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning. In a proof-of-concept study in Antarctica, we demonstrate that this allows the collection of quad-polarimetric data along a 23-km profile, mapping anisotropic ice-fabric properties at <100-m intervals across the transition of grounded to floating ice. This study shows the possibility of collecting data that will refine ice-flow models by providing missing rheological parameters. This work also demonstrates the versatility of the autonomous ground vehicle with its ability to tow more than 200-kg payload, with a battery run time of over 6 h, and with a modular design that enables future integration of different radars or other geophysical sensors.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
ISSN:	0196-2892
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 July 2024
Date of Acceptance:	19 April 2024
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2024 15:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170198

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item