The University of Texas logo
\
Laura Lindzey - Research Talk, Spring 2003

Back to Young UTIG Researchers Talks

Sub-ice ditch, swamp or lake?
A question of radar, ice loss and scattering at the South Pole.

By Laura Lindzey.

Abstract:
Radar ice sounding transects have revealed what appears to be a subglacial lake beneath 2800 meters of ice a few kilometers from the South Pole. Dr. P. Buford Price, a scientist in the University of California at Berkeley Physics Department, concluded that the lake is frozen by analyzing temperature measurements in the South Pole ice and extrapolating a base temperature at the "lake" using several different models. This project attempts to determine the material of the lake by extracting its properties through the radar equation. The radar equation accounts for all the factors that influence the returned echo strength, inclucing radar system parameters and propagation effects. The strength of the returned echo is also affected by the material making up the "lake" and its roughness. The largest unknown quantity is the ice loss, which depends on the temperature and impurities throughout the ice. The computed reflection coefficients indicate that this "lake" is indeed frozen, and possibly an ancient lake.