Latest improvements for the echo sounding system of the Italian radar glaciological group and measurements in Antarctica

Abstract

Radio echo sounding is an active remote-sensing method using electromagnetic wave penetration in a particular medium such as ice and permits the measurements of its thickness, the level of the bedrock and inhomogeneities i.e. of the internal layering of glaciers. The Italian Radar Glaciological Group has implemented technical improvements on the system operating during the 1995-1996 Antarctic expeditions, increasing the horizontal and the vertical resolution by means of a new acquisition ensemble. The new system was used during the Antarctic expedition in 1997-1998. The present paper presents the latest improvements of the radar acquisition system and radar profiles extracted from the 1995-1996 and the 1997-1998 Antarctic expeditions are presented.