Assessment of Electromagnetic Absorption of Ice From Ice Core Measurements

Abstract

DOME C is located on the East Antarctic Plateau at an altitude of 3233 m above sea level and is the site of the Italian–French base, i.e., the Concordia Station ( 123∘20′ E, 75∘06′ S). It has become an important location for several scientific research studies, including astrophysics, geophysics, glaciology, and climatology, due to the perceived long-term stability and thickness of ice at this location [1], [5], [18], [24]. During the site selection and follow up of the EPICA Dome C coring project, which ultimately provided more than 800 000 years of palaeoclimatic series distributed along 3270 m [6], numerous radio-echo sounding (RES) surveys were undertaken to improve core positioning and subsequently to better leverage data and logistical infrastructures from the coring effort. These studies were conducted at very different scales over the Dome C region and revealed important information about the bedrock physiography and its physical conditions [2]– [4], [8], [9], [19], [20], [30], [31]. This study builds upon these efforts using data from two recently acquired ground-based surveys collected during 2009 and 2011 in a very small area (2.5 × 2.0 km) in the immediate proximity of the EPICA drilling site, to test advances in the acquisition and digitization technology and resolve the basal environment to unprecedented detail.