The method which should be a best estimator for identifying the thickness of glaciers and the depth information related to the case study. If it is a remote place, can we have an air borne survey to estimate the features?
Hi,
am am fully agree with Juri. Georadar is the best solution for the problem in question. Very high apparent resistivity of glaciers satisfies deep penetration of the georadar signal into ice and it is possible to investigate thickness of ice several dozens, even the first hundreds of meters. Of course is it necessary to use suitable (low frequency) antenna.
Radar is probably the best way to investigate glaciers, but seismoelectrics can also help to detect the interface between solid ice and liquid water, based on the contrast of the electrokinetic properties between ice and water. For more details you can read:
Active seismoelectric exploration of glaciers
B. Kulessa,T. Murray, and D. Rippin
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L07503, doi:10.1029/2006GL025758, 2006
and :
Electrokinetics in Earth Sciences: A Tutorial
L Jouniaux, T Ishido
International Journal of Geophysics 01/2012; 16(2012):Article ID 286107. DOI:10.1155/2012/286107 (open access).
Thank you Laurence..... Moreover i need some of the suggestions related to this approach. That is from your answer it shows that the method is based on resistivity variations in the interfaces of solid ice and liquid water. Then shall i chose ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography) for estimating the subsurface of glaciers. What is the significance of seismoelectric to ERT.Can you guide me?
ERT will give you the electrical resistivity, whereas the seismoelectrics will give you the interface between the two media. If the medium is too much resistive the ERT may not be appropriate . If the contrast of the interfaces is too low or the interface too deep the seismoelectric signal will be too low to be detected. When working on glaciers I guess the first method used is the radar, then seismoelectrics sometimes.
An interesting study using surface nuclear magnetic resonance method is available at:
http://earthdoc.eage.org/publication/publicationdetails/?publication=40941
http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/13/2/025022
Its particularity is that it was used for the first time 3D MRS to quantify liquid water inside a glacier.
Thank you Laurence and Alain...Thank your for your suggestions. Based on your comments, it is better to chose the integrated approach to estimate the subsurface features of glaciers. Your published works also very helpful to me, especially the tutorial on electrokinetics and NMR.
One more doubt is whether the tectonic plate movement affects the glacial topography? If so, can we monitor the temporal change in the glaciers through some permanently installed geophysical real time monitoring station. Kindly clarify please
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