A Simulation Approach to Characterizing Sub-Glacial Hydrology

Abstract. The structure and distribution of sub-glacial water directly influences Antarctic ice mass loss by reducing basal shear stress and enhancing grounding line retreat. A common technique for detecting sub-glacial water involves analyzing the spatial variation in reflectivity from an airborne ice penetrating radar (IPR) survey. Basic IPR analysis exploits the high dielectric contrast between water and most other substrate materials, where a reflectivity increase ≥ 15 dB is frequently correlated with the presence of sub-glacial water. There are surprisingly few additional tools to further characterize the size, shape, or extent of hydrological systems beneath large ice masses.

We adapted an existing radar backscattering simulator to model IPR reflections from sub-glacial water structures using the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) Multifrequency Airborne Radar Sounder with Full-phase Assessment (MARFA) instrument. Our series of hypothetical simulations modeled water structures from 5 m to 50 m wide, surrounded by bed materials of varying roughness. We compared the relative reflectivity from rounded Röthlisberger channels and specular flat canals, showing both types of channels exhibit a positive correlation between size and reflectivity. Large (> 20 m), flat canals can increase reflectivity by more than 20 dB, while equivalent Röthlisberger channels show only modest reflectivity gains of 8−13 dB. Changes in substrate roughness may also alter observed reflectivity by 3−6 dB. All of these results indicate that a sophisticated approach to IPR interpretation can be useful in constraining the size and shape of sub-glacial water, however a highly nuanced treatment of the geometric context is necessary.

Finally, we compared simulated outputs to actual reflectivity from a single IPR flight line collected over Thwaites Glacier in 2022. The flight line crosses a previously proposed Röthlisberger channel route, with an obvious bright bed reflection in the radargram. Through multiple simulations, we demonstrated the important role that topography and water geometry can play in observed IPR reflectivity. We ultimately conclude the bright reflector from our IPR flight line is more likely a broad area of wide distributed water, such as a series of flat canals or sub-glacial lake, instead of a Röthlisberger channel. The approach outlined here has broad applicability for studying the basal environment of large glaciers, and can aid in constraining the geometry and extent of sub-glacial hydrologic structures.