Automatic reconstruction of polycrystalline ice microstructure from image analysis: application to the EPICA ice core at Dome Concordia, Antarctica

Abstract

AbstractA digital image-processing approach is proposed which allows the extraction of two-dimensional polycrystalline ice microstructure (grain boundaries) from thin sections observed between cross-polarisers. It is based on image segmentation of colour images. The method is applied to the preliminary analysis of the shallow ( Holocene) ice of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) ice core at Dome Concordia. Structural parameters, such as the mean cross-sectional area, shape anisotropy and grain morphology, are obtained. The interest and limitations of this automatic procedure are discussed.