GRADES-IMAGE

The GRADES-IMAGE science programme was a British Antarctic Survey-funded project over the Antarctic Peninsula and Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.

The aim of the programme was to image englacial layering and bedrock topography over this sensitive catchment of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Antarctic Peninsula. In total, this field campaign collected ~27,550 line-km of aero-geophysical data (including magnetics and radar data) over the Ellsworth Mountains, Evans Ice Stream and Carson Inlet, and Rutftord Ice Stream over 100 hours of surveying.

GRADES-IMAGE survey – Flight coverage

Datasets

List of airborne geophysics datasets available for this project includes:

Aeromagnetic data:

• Ferraccioli, F., & Jordan, T. (2020). Airborne magnetic data covering the Evans, and Rutford Ice Streams, and ice rises in the Ronne Ice Shelf (2006/07) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/7504BE9B-93BA-44AF-A17F-00C84554B819

Bed and surface elevation picks data:

• Corr, H. (2020). Airborne radar bed elevation along flow lines covering the Evans, and Rutford Ice Streams, and ice rises in the Ronne Ice Shelf (2006/07) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/4EFA688E-7659-4CBF-A72F-FACAC5D63998

Radar data:

• Corr, H. (2021). Processed airborne radio-echo sounding data from the GRADES-IMAGE survey covering the Evans and Rutford Ice Streams, and ice rises in the Ronne Ice Shelf, West Antarctica (2006/2007) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/C7EA5697-87E3-4529-A0DD-089A2ED638FB

Data Portal

Airborne Geophysics data can also be accessed through the new Airborne Geophysics Data Portal.

More information about the Portal can be found here: https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/nagdp/#about

Publications

Ashmore, D.W., Bingham, R.G., Hindmarsh, R.C., Corr, H.F. and Joughin, I.R., 2014. The relationship between sticky spots and radar reflectivity beneath an active West Antarctic ice stream. Annals of Glaciology, 55(67), pp.29-38. https://doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG67A052

1. Airborne Geophysics

   Enabling ice observation programmes

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2. Aerogravity system

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3. Polarimetric Radar

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4. Twin Otter aircraft

   The Twin Otter is a high-wing, twin-engine, turbo-prop aircraft. They are used all over the world and are known for their rugged construction, reliability and short take-off and landing performance.

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