Helicopter mounted ground penetrating radar - Shackleton Ice Shelf

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is an active geophysical technique that uses high frequency radio waves to map the subsurface. The basic principle of GPR measurements is the transition of electromagnetic pulses of suitable frequency down into the ground through a transmitting antenna, and to detect the reflected energy as a function of time, amplitude and phase from any subsurface targets through a receiver antenna. If the electromagnetic travel velocity of the subsurface is known, time can be converted to depth. Wave reflections are generated from the boundaries of materials of different electromagnetic properties. The large contrast between the electromagnetic properties of rock, ice, water, and some sediments makes GPR a particularly effective method for mapping in frozen environments.Data was collected with Måla GroundExplorer radar system with a shielded antenna, centre frequency 80 MHz. The antenna was housed in wooden box, slung on a longline, 15 metres long, from the helicopter cargo hook. Four surveys were carried out on the Shackleton Ice Shelf on the 9th December 2023 with the aim of assessing ice structure and locating a hot water drilled borehole. Each survey consists of three cross lines ~2.5km long, collected in one file. The data can be viewed and processed in any standard GPR software..rd3 - 16-bit binary raw data file.rd7 - 32-bit binary raw data file.mrk - Marker file.rad - Header information file.srd - Time file.cor - Coordinate file