| PI | Institute/Department | |
|---|---|---|
| Schroeder, Dustin M |
Stanford University, Department of Geophysics, Department of Electrical Engineering
|
| Program Manager | Funding Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Pope, Dr. Allen James |
National Science Foundation
|
The Stanford Radio Glaciology Lab is developing two new ice-penetrating radar systems that will address gaps in current cryosphere radar remote sensing and may ultimately provide high impact observational tools to the glaciological and cryosphere community. The first system is an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV)-borne ice-penetrating radar sounder, which will provide the ability to collect data on larger spatial scales and at high frequency temporal repeats at a significantly reduced cost and with increased safety compared to crewed airborne and ground-based radar surveys. The second system is a ground-based multi-frequency integrated radar-radiometer, which leverages the frequency independence of basal material reflectivity signatures vis-a-vis the frequency dependence of basal roughness scattering signatures to enable more accurate determinations of basal material, thermal state and roughness, on ice sheets. The integrated radiometer enables combined radar-radiometer inversions for ice sheet temperature profiles with better surface to bed temperature sensitivity than either instrument alone. Both the UAV and ground-based systems utilize commercially-available software-defined radios for the backbone of the instrumentation, sharing a single codebase, which will be made open-source through this project. Testing at Summit Station during the 2023 summer season will enable researchers to demonstrate successful UAV-based radar sounding, successful multi-frequency radar surveying and to continue maturing each system to the point where they are ready for community-wide use. Data collected by these systems will be compared to the wealth of other radar data collected in the vicinity of Summit Station, as well as to data from the nearby GISP2 and GRIP ice cores. Both instruments are desired across the glaciological community for both current and proposed field experiments, but require additional testing and refinement on deep, cold ice that is unreachable outside of the Greenland or Antarctic Ice Sheets.
Researchers on this project will field test and validate two novel community-driven instruments for scientific research. (1) A ground-based multi-frequency joint ice-penetrating radar-radiometer, capable of providing strong radiometric constraints on ice-sheet basal conditions and englacial temperature via separation of the basal material reflectivity, basal roughness, and englacial attenuation signatures. (2) A low-cost fixed-wing uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) with ice-penetrating radar sounder capable of both real-time adaptive sampling and making 3D interferometric observations of ice structure and flow. Validation will be performed by towing/flying instruments over a transect that overlaps with existing flight-based radar data from previous projects. For each system, the science team will begin by making static measurements from some location along this transect and progress to performing flights (for the UAV) or towed traverses (using a snowmobile) along the transect. Fieldwork will take place over two summer seasons (2023 and 2024) at Summit Station, Greenland.
In 2023, two science participants will travel to Summit Station for field testing of ice-penetrating radar systems. The team will use an on-station, heated, powered workspace for assembly and testing of their equipment. Then they will perform day trips to off-station locations to make field measurements with the equipment. They will travel via snowmobile, with one instrument towed, and the second instrument flying on an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) along the same ground track. These off-station routes will follow ground tracks from previous aerial surveys near the station, with a range from the station of less than 25 km.
In 2024, two science participants will again travel to Summit Station to continue their fieldwork with the same support model and work plan.
Battelle ARO will provide Air National Guard coordination for passengers and cargo, Greenland departure fees, Summit Station user days, Kangerlussuaq lodging, snowmachines use, fuel, and communications and safety gear. All other logistics will be arranged and paid for by the PI from the research grant.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2023
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
2
|
|
2024
|
Greenland - Summit
|
|
|
4
|