Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

As bad weather prohibited a full camp set-up at Mt Erebus Saddle the GPR measurement was done by manhauling a lightweight version of our Evans Piedmont Glacier GPR setup (Fig.7). For this reason only one 35MHz antenna was used. An example of the raw data is shown in Fig.7. A strong bedrock reflection indicates that ice depth exceeds 200m. The prominent isochrones seen at about 50m are potentially tephra layers. The sparse coverage does not permit investigating spatial accumulation pattern. However, the persistence of isochrones throughout the profile, their horizontal direction and the total depth of the glacier at the proposed drilling site indicate promising characteristics for a potential ice core record from Mt Erebus Saddle.

Fig.7: Manhaul of a lightweight GPR and high resolution GPS equipment (right). Radar profile from Mt Erebus Saddle showing bedrock topography, ice thickness and internal flow structures (left).