Rapid development of anisotropic ice‐crystal‐alignment fabrics inferred from englacial radar polarimetry, central West Antarctica

Abstract

Anisotropy in englacial radar power was measured using 60‐MHz and 179‐MHz copolarized pulse‐modulated radar at 19 sites in central West Antarctica. The study region is a 100 × 300 km2area near the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide that separates ice flow toward the Ross and Amundsen Embayments. The frequency dependence of the returned power indicates that most of the radar data are affected by vertical variations in the crystal‐orientation fabric (COF), though the 60‐MHz data are more affected by acidity contrasts in the top 1000 m. Significant polarimetric variations occur at most sites, likely due to effects of the anisotropic COF patterns. More anisotropic variations occur at sites with significant horizontal strain, whereas more isotropic variations occur at sites where vertical compression dominates. Azimuthal shifts with depth of the principal axes of COF were found in shallow ice near the current flow divide and at greater depths over locations of rough bed. The former indicates that the divide has differentially migrated, resulting in a rotation of the principal COF axes. Nevertheless, the regionally consistent radar signatures suggest that the first‐order ice properties in this area have remained constant and that no major changes in the strain configuration or ice topography have occurred for the past five to eight thousand years. We conclude that shallow polarimetric features can be related to the current strain configurations, and that englacial polarimetric features can help constrain current ice rheology and evolution of the ice topography.