Abstract:

Based on radar penetrating measurements and analysis of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, The potential of radar wave to measure sea ice thickness and map the morphology of the underside of sea ice is investigated. The results indicate that the radar wave can penetrate Arctic summer sea ice of over 6 meters thick; and the propagation velocity of the radar wave in sea ice is in the range of 0.142 m·ns^-1 to 0.154 m·ns^-1. The radar images display the roughness and micro-relief variation of sea ice bottom surface. These features are closely related to sea ice types, which show that radar survey may be used to identify and classify ice types. Since radar images can simultaneously display the linear profile features of both the upper surface and the underside of sea ice, we use these images to quantify their actual linear length discrepancy. A new length factor is suggested in relation to the actual linear length discrepancy in linear profiles of sea ice, which may be useful in further study of the area difference between the upper surface and bottom surface of sea ice.

Key words: the Arctic Ocean, radar penetration, sea ice thickness, underside morphology, sea ice type