Feasibility Study for Mapping the Glacial Ice Bottom Topography Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperature Radar Techniques

该奖项是对探索性研究小额赠款(SGER)的支持，目的是研究应用常规和干涉合成孔径雷达技术绘制冰川底部地图的可行性。传统的成像合成孔径雷达(SARS)只能提供冰层底部的二维图像，关于基本物理特性的信息有限。利用干涉合成孔径雷达可以获得海底的三维地图，这将大大加强雷达数据在冰川动力学研究中的作用。这项可行性研究将考察电磁在冰川中的传播特性、合成孔径雷达成像的最佳条件以及底冰的散射特性。这项工作的结果将是确定合成孔径雷达测绘冰川冰基本特征所需的最佳系统参数。

This award is for support of a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) to examine the feasibility of applying conventional and interferometric synthetic aperture radar techniques to map the basal portion of glaciers. Conventional imaging synthetic aperture radars (SARs) provide only a two- dimensional view of the bottom of the ice, and limited information on basal physical properties. Three dimensional maps of the bottom can be obtained with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and would significantly enhance the utility of radar data in the study of glacial dynamics. This feasibility study will examine the characteristics of electromagnetic propagation through glacial ice, the optimum conditions for synthetic aperture radar imaging and the scattering characteristics of the bottom ice. The result of this work will be a determination of the optimum set of system parameters needed for a synthetic aperture radar to map the basal characteristics of glacial ice.