On the Limitations of Using Polarimetric Radar Sounding to Infer the Crystal Orientation Fabric of Ice Masses
Publication Date
2022Journal Title
Geophysical Research Letters
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Volume
49
Issue
1
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Rathmann, N., Lilien, D., Grinsted, A., Gerber, T., Young, T., & Dahl-Jensen, D. (2022). On the Limitations of Using Polarimetric Radar Sounding to Infer the Crystal Orientation Fabric of Ice Masses. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (1) https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096244
Abstract
Abstract: We introduce a transfer matrix model for radio‐wave propagation through layered anisotropic ice that permits an arbitrary dielectric permittivity tensor in each layer. The model is used to investigate how crystal orientation fabrics without a vertical principal direction affect polarimetric radar returns over glaciers and ice sheets. By expanding the c‐axis orientation distribution in terms of a spherical harmonic series, we find that radar returns from synthetic fabric profiles are relatively insensitive to the harmonic mode responsible for a nonvertical principal direction; however, only for normally incident waves. Consequently, the strength of this mode might be relatively difficult to infer in glaciers and ice sheets, which in turn has implications for the ability to determine the full second‐order structure tensor, needed to infer the local flow regime, flow history, or to represent the directional viscosity structure of glacier ice for ice‐flow modeling.
Keywords
Cryosphere, Modeling in glaciology, ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE, Air/sea constituent fluxes, Volcanic effects, BIOGEOSCIENCES, Climate dynamics, Modeling, COMPUTATIONAL GEOPHYSICS, Numerical solutions, CRYOSPHERE, Ice sheets, Remote sensing, Properties, Glaciology, Snow, Ice, Avalanches, Mass balance, GEODESY AND GRAVITY, Ocean monitoring with geodetic techniques, Ocean/Earth/atmosphere/hydrosphere/cryosphere interactions, Global change from geodesy, GLOBAL CHANGE, Abrupt/rapid climate change, Climate variability, Cryospheric change, Earth system modeling, Impacts of global change, Land/atmosphere interactions, Oceans, Regional climate change, Sea level change, Solid Earth, Water cycles, HYDROLOGY, Climate impacts, Hydrological cycles and budgets, Snow and ice, INFORMATICS, MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS, Gravity and isostasy, ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES, Climate change and variability, Climatology, General circulation, Ocean/atmosphere interactions, Regional modeling, Theoretical modeling, OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL, Climate and interannual variability, Numerical modeling, NATURAL HAZARDS, Atmospheric, Geological, Oceanic, Physical modeling, Climate impact, Risk, Disaster risk analysis and assessment, OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL, Air/sea interactions, Decadal ocean variability, Ocean influence of Earth rotation, Sea level: variations and mean, Surface waves and tides, Tsunamis and storm surges, PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, POLICY SCIENCES, Benefit‐cost analysis, RADIO SCIENCE, Radio oceanography, SEISMOLOGY, Earthquake ground motions and engineering seismology, Volcano seismology, VOLCANOLOGY, Volcano/climate interactions, Atmospheric effects, Volcano monitoring, Effusive volcanism, Mud volcanism, Explosive volcanism, Volcanic hazards and risks, Research Letter, anisotropic ice, ice sheets, radio wave modeling
Sponsorship
Villum Fonden (Villum Foundation) (16572)
Identifiers
grl63517, 2021gl096244
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096244
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/332566
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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