Brief communication: Bed mapping of southern Greenland outlet glaciers using helicopter-borne ground penetrating radar (AIRETH)

Abstract

Here we present the first southern Greenland deployment of the re-designed Airborne Ice Radar of ETH Zürich (AIRETH). We surveyed a total of 348 km of profiles over three outlet glaciers, identifying basal reflections along 102 km (29 %) of the flight lines. The 25 MHz antennas configuration achieved an effective penetration depth of about 300 m and a maximum measured ice thickness of about 340 m, with bed detectability decreasing over thicker and/or heavily crevassed ice. These results define the depth limitation of our system and show that terrain-following helicopter surveys can provide targeted constraints that complement existing datasets in complex topography.