Direct evidence for continuous radar reflector originating from changes in crystal-orientation fabric

International audienceThe origin of a strong continuous radar reflector observed with airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) at the EPICA deep-drilling site in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, is identified as a transition in crystal fabric orientation from a vertical girdle to an increased single-pole orientation seen along the ice core. The reflector is observed with a 60 ns and 600 ns long pulse at a frequency of 150 MHz, spans one pulse length, is continuous over 5 km, and occurs at a depth of about 2025?2045 m at the drill site. Changes in conductivity as reflector origin are excluded by investigating the ice-core profile, synthetic RES data, and a RES profile with different electromagnetic polarisation azimuths. The reflector's magnitude shows maximum values for polarisation parallel to the nearby ice divide and disappears for polarisation perpendicular to it, identifying the orientation of the girdle to lie in the vertical plane parallel to the ice divide. Observations allow us to extrapolate the crystal orientation feature along the reflector in space, with implications for ice-sheet dynamics and modeling

Multidecadal observations of the Antarctic ice sheet from restored analog radar records.

Airborne radar sounding can measure conditions within and beneath polar ice sheets. In Antarctica, most digital radar-sounding data have been collected in the last 2 decades, limiting our ability to understand processes that govern longer-term ice-sheet behavior. Here, we demonstrate how analog radar data collected over 40 y ago in Antarctica can be combined with modern records to quantify multidecadal changes. Specifically, we digitize over 400,000 line kilometers of exploratory Antarctic radar data originally recorded on 35-mm optical film between 1971 and 1979. We leverage the increased geometric and radiometric resolution of our digitization process to show how these data can be used to identify and investigate hydrologic, geologic, and topographic features beneath and within the ice sheet. To highlight their scientific potential, we compare the digitized data with contemporary radar measurements to reveal that the remnant eastern ice shelf of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica had thinned between 10 and 33% between 1978 and 2009. We also release the collection of scanned radargrams in their entirety in a persistent public archive along with updated geolocation data for a subset of the data that reduces the mean positioning error from 5 to 2.5 km. Together, these data represent a unique and renewed extensive, multidecadal historical baseline, critical for observing and modeling ice-sheet change on societally relevant timescales

Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica

Subglacial water plays an important role in ice sheet dynamics and stability. Subglacial lakes are often located at the onset of ice streams and have been hypothesised to enhance ice flow downstream by lubricating the ice– bed interface. The most recent subglacial-lake inventory of Antarctica mapped nearly 400 lakes, of which ∼ 14 % are found in West Antarctica. Despite the potential importance of subglacial water for ice dynamics, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica. Using radio-echo sounding data, we analyse the ice–bed interface to detect subglacial lakes. We report 33 previously uncharted subglacial lakes and present a systematic analysis of their physical properties. This represents a ∼ 40 % increase in subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography of the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands was built and used to create a hydropotential model to simulate the subglacial hydrological network. This allows us to characterise basal hydrology, determine subglacial water catchments and assess their connectivity. We show that the simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of the Rutford Ice Stream, Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier do not correspond to their ice surface catchments

Recent Russian remote sensing investigations in Antarctica within the framework of scientific traverses

This paper includes a short historical review of Russian and Soviet scientific traverses to study the Antarctic inland. The first traverse left on April 2, 1956. It resulted in the opening of the first Russian inland research station named Pionerskaya and provided the first geophysical and glaciological data on regions inland of the Antarctic coast. By 1965, a number of regional inland scientific traverses had been completed and the first Atlas of Antarctica was published in 1966. The atlas presented the main achievements of that time. After the discovery of Lake Vostok, Russian scientists commenced remote sensing investigations to study this unique natural phenomenon. The propagation of acoustic and electromagnetic waves in the glacier near Vostok Station were measured to provide important geophysical data. Radio-echo sounding data showed that Lake Vostok is isolated and separated from the rest of the Antarctic subglacial hydrosphere. The total area of the lake is 15 790 km2, excluding 365 km2 occupied by 11 islands. Reflection seismic soundings of Lake Vostok estimated a total volume of about 6 100 km3, an average depth of about 400 m, and a maximum depth of 1 200 m. Since 2008, there have been a number of scientific traverses between Mirny and Vostok stations and between Progress and Vostok stations. The data collected during the traverses have provided new insights into sub-ice topography and ice sheet structure, and have led to the discovery of subglacial lakes near Komsomolskaya Station and under Pionerskaya Station

Subglacial topography and landscape evolution from radio-echo sounding data in the Evans-Rutford Region, southern Antarctic Peninsula.

Knowledge of the subglacial bedrock topography of the Antarctic ice sheet is important for understanding modern and past ice flow as well as the present basal conditions. Inferring landscape evolution from the subglacial geomorphology can also provide insight into ice sheet interactions with other processes such as tectonics. This thesis utilises newly released radio-echo sounding data from the British Antarctic Survey GRADES-IMAGE radar survey to geomorphologically interpret the bed topography in the Evans-Rutford Region of Antarctica. The GRADES-IMAGE survey is a legacy radar survey that has not yet been examined in detail in terms of subglacial bed topography. In the work presented here, a new high-resolution Digital Elevation Model of the region has been generated, and the resulting subglacial landscape was mapped to delineate distinct geomorphological features. Hypsometric (area-elevation) analysis was carried out to characterise the landscape morphology, and a flexural isostatic rebounding model was applied in order to help consider the age and evolution of the pre-glacial landscape. The main finding from analysis of the subglacial features is the identification of ten flat plateau surfaces distributed throughout the study region. These plateaux sit under cold-based ice between deep incised glacial troughs, some of which have potential tectonic controls. Two populations of plateaux have been identified as potentially coherent pre-glacial surfaces. Three hypotheses are presented for the evolution of the regional landscape: passive margin evolution associated with the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent, or an extensive planation surface that may have been uplifted either in association with the West Antarctic Rift System, or cessation of subduction at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. Regardless of the process of formation, glacial erosion of the surrounding troughs likely coincided with the inception of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with the ice flow and erosion patterns topographically controlled by the regional tectonics

Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica

Subglacial water plays an important role in ice sheet dynamics and stability. Subglacial lakes are often located at the onset of ice streams and have been hypothesised to enhance ice flow downstream by lubricating the ice–bed interface. The most recent subglacial-lake inventory of Antarctica mapped nearly 400 lakes, of which ∼ 14 % are found in West Antarctica. Despite the potential importance of subglacial water for ice dynamics, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica. Using radio-echo sounding data, we analyse the ice–bed interface to detect subglacial lakes. We report 33 previously uncharted subglacial lakes and present a systematic analysis of their physical properties. This represents a ∼ 40 % increase in subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography of the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands was built and used to create a hydropotential model to simulate the subglacial hydrological network. This allows us to characterise basal hydrology, determine subglacial water catchments and assess their connectivity. We show that the simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of the Rutford Ice Stream, Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier do not correspond to their ice surface catchments

Airborne ultra-wideband radar sounding over the shear margins and along flow lines at the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream

We present a high-resolution airborne radar data set (EGRIP-NOR-2018) for the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). The radar data were acquired in May 2018 with the Alfred Wegener Institute\u27s multichannel ultra-wideband (UWB) radar mounted on the Polar 6 aircraft. Radar profiles cover an area of ∼24 000 km2 and extend over the well-defined shear margins of the NEGIS. The survey area is centered at the location of the drill site of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP), and several radar lines intersect at this location. The survey layout was designed to (i) map the stratigraphic signature of the shear margins with radar profiles aligned perpendicular to ice flow, (ii) trace the radar stratigraphy along several flow lines, and (iii) provide spatial coverage of ice thickness and basal properties. While we are able to resolve radar reflections in the deep stratigraphy, we cannot fully resolve the steeply inclined reflections at the tightly folded shear margins in the lower part of the ice column. The NEGIS is causing the most significant discrepancies between numerically modeled and observed ice surface velocities. Given the high likelihood of future climate and ocean warming, this extensive data set of new high-resolution radar data in combination with the EastGRIP ice core will be a key contribution to understand the past and future dynamics of the NEGIS. The EGRIP-NOR-2018 radar data products can be obtained from the PANGAEA data publisher (https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.928569; Franke et al., 2021a)

Understanding Landscape and Ice Sheet Evolution in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, East Antarctica, using Ice Sheet Surface Mapping

Landscapes buried beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet preserve information about the geologic and geomorphic evolution of the continent both before and during the wide-scale glaciation that began roughly 34 million years ago. Throughout this time, some areas of the ice sheet have remained cold-based and non-erosive, preserving ancient landscapes remarkably intact. The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in central East Antarctica are one such landscape, maintaining evidence of tectonic, fluvial and glacial controls on their distinctly alpine morphology. The central Gamburtsevs have previously been surveyed using airborne ice-penetrating radar, however, many questions remain as to their evolution and their influence on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, including where in the region to drill for a 1.5-million-year-long ‘Oldest Ice’ core. In this thesis, new maps of the planform geometry of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are derived from satellite remote sensing datasets of the ice sheet surface, based on the relationship between bed roughness and ice surface morphology. Automated and manual approaches to mapping were tested and validated against existing radar data and elevation models. Manual mapping was more effective than automated approaches at reproducing bed features observed in radar data, but a hybrid approach is suggested for future work. The maps produced here show detail of mountain ridges and valleys on wavelengths significantly smaller than the spacing of existing radar flightlines, and mapping has extended well beyond the confines of existing radar surveys. Morphometric analysis of the mapped landscape reveals that it constitutes a preserved (> 34 Ma) dendritic valley network, with some evidence for modification by topographically-confined glaciation prior to ice sheet inception. The planform geometry of the landscape is a significant control on locations of basal melting, subglacial hydrological flows, and the stability of the ice sheet over time, so the maps presented here may help to guide decisions about where to search for Oldest Ice

Airborne ultra-wideband radar sounding over the shear margins and along flow lines at the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream

We present a high-resolution airborne radar data set (EGRIP-NOR-2018) for the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). The radar data were acquired in May 2018 with the Alfred Wegener Institute's multichannel ultra-wideband (UWB) radar mounted on the Polar 6 aircraft. Radar profiles cover an area of ∼24 000 km2 and extend over the well-defined shear margins of the NEGIS. The survey area is centered at the location of the drill site of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP), and several radar lines intersect at this location. The survey layout was designed to (i) map the stratigraphic signature of the shear margins with radar profiles aligned perpendicular to ice flow, (ii) trace the radar stratigraphy along several flow lines, and (iii) provide spatial coverage of ice thickness and basal properties. While we are able to resolve radar reflections in the deep stratigraphy, we cannot fully resolve the steeply inclined reflections at the tightly folded shear margins in the lower part of the ice column. The NEGIS is causing the most significant discrepancies between numerically modeled and observed ice surface velocities. Given the high likelihood of future climate and ocean warming, this extensive data set of new high-resolution radar data in combination with the EastGRIP ice core will be a key contribution to understand the past and future dynamics of the NEGIS. The EGRIP-NOR-2018 radar data products can be obtained from the PANGAEA data publisher (https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.928569; Franke et al., 2021a)