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Radar measurements of melt zones on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Author(s) -
Jezek Kenneth C.,
Gogineni Prasad,
Shanableh M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/93gl03377
Subject(s) - firn , greenland ice sheet , geology , snow , ice sheet , radar , backscatter (email) , sea ice , sea ice thickness , climatology , atmospheric sciences , geomorphology , arctic ice pack , telecommunications , computer science , wireless
Surface‐based microwave radar measurements were performed at a location on the western flank of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Here, firn metamorphosis is dominated by seasonal melt, which leads to marked contrasts in the vertical structure of winter and summer firn. This snow regime is also one of the brightest radar targets on Earth with an average backscatter coefficient of 0 dB at 5.3 GHz and an incidence angle of 25°. By combining detailed observations of firn physical properties with ranging radar measurements we find that the glaciological mechanism associated with this strong electromagnetic response is summer ice lens formation within the previous winter's snow pack. This observation has important implications for monitoring and understanding changes in ice sheet volume using space‐borne microwave sensors.