Internal structure of the ice sheet between Vostok and Dome A revealed by irborne radio echo sounding
During the IPY 2007/08 the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) mapped with its new ski-equipped research aircraft POLAR 5 ice thickness and internal structure of the East Antarctic ice sheet between deep ice core drill sites using airborne radio-echo sounding (RES). By tracing six internal horizons it is possible to transfer age-depth scales from one drill site to another. This is of special interest for the section between the drill site Vostok and the proposed drill site the Dome A summit region.The closed RES profile between Vostok and Dome A shows a very undulated, rough bedrock. The ice thickness varies between 1528 m and 3868 m. Highly varying ice thickness and the steep bedrock hamper the tracking of internal horizons along the profile. However it was possible to trace six arbitrarily chosen horizons along the whole profile. The AWI profile has also crossover points at E 077.38°/S 80.36° E 077.44°/S 80.34 with a ground based RES profile surveyed by colleagues of the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) (pers. com. Xueyuan Tang, 2009).
Helmholtz Research Programs > PACES I (2009-2013) > TOPIC 1: The Changing Arctic and Antarctic > WP 1.1: Role of Ice Sheets in the Earth System
Helmholtz Research Programs > MARCOPOLI (2004-2008) > POL-MARCOPOLI
Helmholtz Research Programs > MARCOPOLI (2004-2008) > POL1-Processes and interactions in the polar climate system