High-Resolution Ice-Sounding Radar Measurements of Ice Thickness Over East Antarctic Ice Sheet as a Part of Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition

Abstract

This paper presents the ice thickness, fine resolution internal reflecting horizons (IRHs), and distinct bottom topography measurements of Chinese Kunlun Station and Grove Mountains, Antarctica, derived from sounding these glaciers with a high-resolution radar. To enable the development of next-generation ice-sheet models, we need information on IRHs, bottom topography, and basal conditions. To this end, we performed measurements with the progressively improved ice-sounding radar system, currently known as the high-resolution ice-sounding radar developed by the Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Radiation and Sensing Technology of Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. We processed the collected data using focused synthetic aperture radar (SAR) algorithm named the modified range migration algorithm using curvelets and the modified nonlinear chirp scaling algorithm to improve radar sensitivity and reduce along-track surface clutter. Representative results from selected transects indicate that we successfully sounded 3-km-thick ice with a fine resolution of 0.75 m. In this paper, we provide a brief description of the radar system, discuss the focused SAR processing algorithms, and provide sample results to demonstrate the successful sounding of the ice sheet in Antarctica.