Fifty-five years of Russian radio-echo sounding investigations in Antarctica

Abstract

Russian (former Soviet) systematic studies of Antarctica by radio-echo sounding (RES) and ground-penetrating radar technique (GPR) were commenced in 1964. Since that time airborne RES surveys have covered about 5.5 × 106 km2 of the icy continent discovering remarkable geographic objects such as Subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains, and allowed studies of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, Amery Ice Shelf and Lambert Glacier. Ground-based investigations during the 1990s and 2000s revealed the structure of the Lake Vostok area and surveyed along the Mirny to Vostok and Progress to Vostok traverse routes. GPR studies during the 2010s were to select the site for a new snow-runway at Mirny Station, with the resumption of the aviation after a 25 year hiatus.

Keywords

• Airborne electromagnetic soundings
• crevasses
• ground-penetrating radar
• ice thickness measurements
• Antarctic glaciology