We recently reported (Aguilar and others, 2022) on the radio-frequency attenuation length of cold polar ice at Summit Station, Greenland, based on bistatic radar measurements of radio frequency bedrock echo strengths taken during the summer of 2021. Those data also include echoes attributed to stratified impurities or dielectric discontinuities within the ice sheet (“layers"), which allow studies of a) estimation of the relative contribution of coherent (discrete layers, e.g.) vs. incoherent (bulk volumetric, e.g.) scattering, b) the magnitude of internal layer reflection coefficients, c) limits on the azimuthal asymmetry of reflections (‘birefringence’), and d) limits on signal dispersion in-ice over a bandwidth of ~100 MHz. We find that i) after averaging 10000 echo triggers, reflected signal observable over the thermal floor (to depths of approximately 1500 m) are consistent with being entirely coherent, ii) internal layer reflection coefficients are measured at approximately –60 to –70 dB, iii) birefringent effects for vertically propagating signals are smaller by an order of magnitude relative to comparable studies performed at South Pole, and iv) within our experimental limits, glacial ice is non-dispersive over the frequency band relevant for neutrino detection experiments.
Details
Title
Radiofrequency Ice Dielectric Measurements at Summit Station, Greenland
Author
Aguilar, J. A. : Université Libre de Bruxelles Allison, P. : The Ohio State University Besson, D. : University of Kansas Bishop, A. : University of Wisconsin-Madison Botner, O. : Uppsala University Bouma, S. : Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg Buitink, S. : Vrije Universiteit Brussel Cataldo, M. : Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg Clark, B. A. : Michigan State University Couberly, K. : University of Kansas Curtis-Ginsberg, Z. : University of Chicago Dasgupta, P. : Université Libre de Bruxelles de Kockere, S. : Vrije Universiteit Brussel de Vries, K. D. : Vrije Universiteit Brussel Deaconu, C. : University of Chicago DuVernois, M. A. : University of Wisconsin-Madison Eimer, A. : Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg Glaser, C. : Uppsala University Hallgren, A. : Uppsala University Hallmann, S. : Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Hughes, K. : University of Chicago Michaels, K. : University of Chicago Oberla, E. : University of Chicago Smith, D. : University of Chicago Southall, D. : University of Chicago Vieregg, A. G. : University of Chicago Welling, C. : University of Chicago
Funding Information
Belgian Funds for Scientific Research FWO Programme for International Research Infrastructure National Science Foundation, 2118315 National Science Foundation, 2112352 IceCube EPSCoR Initiative, 2019597 German Research Foundation, NE 2031/2-1 Helmholtz Association, Initiative and Networking Fund, W2/W3 Program European Research Council, 805486
Publication Date
2022-12-05
Language
English
Acknowledgments/ Other Resources
The above author list only shows the first 20 authors and those from the University of Chicago. For the complete list of authors, please refer to the downloaded document.