Abstract
Radio echo sounding is most useful to understand Antarctic ice sheet and ice shelf. We had previously reported the method to infer roughness of ice bottom from A-scope shapes. The back-scattering coefficients of ice sheet surface and bottom were calculated using developed radar equations. Roughness was inferred from the relationship between scattering coefficient and incidence angle.
Smoothness of the ice shelf bottom was inferred from the coherent component of scattering characteristics. Coastal regions have more smooth bottom features than near continental areas. This result suggests that the interaction between sea water and ice shelf bottom associated with the distance from the grounding line. Furthermore, at the coastal edge of the shelf where echoes from the bottom show very specular scattering characteristics, double trip scattering echoes were observed. This suggests that power losses due to specular scattering are few.
In addition, the bottom crevasses were observed at the limited region.
