Abstract: Radar isochronous layers, reflect the surface characteristics of ice of different periods and their variation within the Antarctic ice sheet, and contain a wealth of subglacial environmental information. Isochronous layers have increasingly been used as proxies in investigations into the evolution and subglacial environment of the Antarctic ice sheet over considerable spatiotemporal scales. The integration of geophysical observations and numerical simulation technology has enabled the visualization of these layers over the continental scale. Using these internal isochronous layers, glaciology research has achieved a number of quantitative results by relating millennial-timescale subglacial geomorphology with the paleo-ice stream. In this review concerning the Antarctic ice sheet, we summarize the physical mechanism of the internal layer and its benefit to glaciology, and evaluate its application to the following: (1) siting and dating of deep ice cores, (2) ice sheet dynamics, (3) ice sheet mass balance, (4) ice sheet stability, and (5) the subglacial environment. In addition, based on our understanding of internal isochronous layers, we outline a number of challenges to be addressed in the future. (1) The development and testing of numerical ice-sheet models with more elaborate frameworks that include the structure of internal layers, such as their temporal and spatial variations. (2) The identification of ice mass change based on the internal layers using the current Antarctic ice sheet as the initial conditions. (3) The increase of observations of the subglacial environment, to obtain higher resolution quantitative images of the isochronous layer structure and ice deformation.

Key words: Antarctic ice sheet, isochronous layers, geophysical, radar, numerical modeling