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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1990-91: VUWAE 35

1 AIMS OF EXPEDITION

page 2

1 AIMS OF EXPEDITION

The aim of Event K132 "Optical Properties of Sea Ice" was to monitor the changing optical properties of sea ice as the spring warming occurs. This was accomplished using two optical techniques. Firstly, we employed a technique developed by ourselves over recent years that measures the spatial spreading of light in sea ice, and thus determines, among other things, the transparency of sea ice to visible and UV light. Secondly, we employed a laser that emits a very short light pulse (3 nano sec long) to measure the temporal spreading of light in sea ice. This result gives us the distribution of path lengths for light in sea ice and allows us to predict the value of the backscattered and transmitted radiation fields. Because of the observed strong dependence of the optical properties on ice structure and its time dependence, it was important to be on the ice as early as possible.