Repository logo
 

Glaciological Monitoring Using the Sun as a Radio Source for Echo Detection

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pIce‐penetrating radar observations are critical for projecting ice‐sheet contribution to sea‐level rise; however, these prognostic models have significant uncertainties due to an incomplete understanding of glacial subsurface processes. Existing radars that can characterize subsurface conditions are too resource‐intensive to simultaneously monitor ice sheets at both the necessary temporal—daily to multiannual—and spatial—tributary to continental—scales. Here, we investigate using an ambient radio source, instead of transmitting a signal, for glaciological monitoring. We demonstrate, for the first time, passive radio sounding using the Sun to accurately measure ice thickness on Store Glacier, Greenland. Passive radar sounding could provide low‐resource time‐series measurements of the cryosphere, enabling us to observe and understand evolving englacial and subglacial conditions across Greenland and Antarctica with unprecedented coverage and resolution.</jats:p>

Description

Funder: NASA Cryospheric Sciences

Keywords

passive sounding, radioglaciology, radio-echo sounding, cryosphere, remote sensing

Journal Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0094-8276
1944-8007

Volume Title

48

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Sponsorship
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/K005871/1)