Raw ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data to assess water table detectability in sandy formations, Wahiba Sands, Oman

This dataset contains 6 raw ground-penetrating radar (GPR) profiles (#9, #10, #11, #14, #25, #30) collected at 4 locations in the Wahiba Sands dune field of Oman in May of 2014. The survey was performed to assess the detectability of the water table within the first 100 meters in hyper-arid sandy formations by VHF sounding radar. Profiles #9-10-11 are three parts of the same track ascending a ~36-m tall dune, and used to assess the maximum GPR penetration depth at which the water table is still detectable. Profiles #25 and #30 were acquired in the low-lying interdunal space running north-to-south where the water table is ~30 to 40 m deep, and were used to quantify dielectric and scattering losses in the desiccated medium overlying the water table. Profile #14 was acquired to validate the occurrence of shallow (~2 meter deep) buried paleochannels identified from satellite radar backscatter scenes of the Wahiba Sands.The detailed processing, analyses and interpretations of these GPR profiles, in addition to their implications for airborne VHF sounding radar observations of shallow aquifers in hyper-arid sandy formations, are provided in Heggy et al. (2023, Under Review): "Probing Shallow Aquifers in Hyper-Arid Dune Fields Using VHF Sounding Radar," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Manuscript ID: TGRS-2022-03851.