Remote Detection of Water Under Ice-covered Lakes on the North Slope of Alaska

Abstract

Results from using an impulse radar sounding system on the North Slope of Alaska to detect the existence of water under lake ice are presented. It was found that both lake ice thickness and depth of water under the ice could be determined when the radar antenna was either on the ice surface or airborne in a helicopter. The findings also revealed that the impulse radar sounding system could detect where lake ice was bottom-fast and where water existed under the ice cover.