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  • Three separate airborne radar surveys were flown during the austral summer of 2016/17 over the Filchner Ice Shelf and Halley Ice Shelf (West Antarctica), and over the outlet glacier flows of the English Coast (western Palmer Land, Antarctic Peninsula) during the Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS) project. This project was a NERC-funded (grant reference number: NE/L013770/1) collaborative initiative between the British Antarctic Survey, the National Oceanography Centre, the Met Office Hadley Centre, University College London, the University of Exeter, Oxford University, and the Alfred Wenger Institute to investigate how the Filchner Ice Shelf might respond to a warmer world, and what the impact of sea-level rise could be by the middle of this century. The 2016/17 aerogeophysics surveys acquired a total of ~26,000 line km of aerogeophysical data. The FISS survey consisted of 17 survey flights totalling ~16,000 km of radar data over the Support Force, Recovery, Slessor, and Bailey ice streams of the Filchner Ice Shelf. The Halley Ice Shelf survey consisted of ~4,600 km spread over 5 flights and covering the area around the BAS Halley 6 station and the Brunt Ice Shelf. The English Coast survey consisted of ~5,000 km spread over 7 flights departing from the Sky Blu basecamp and linking several outlet glacier flows and the grounding line of the western Palmer Land, including the ENVISAT, CRYOSAT, GRACE, Landsat, Sentinel, ERS, Hall, Nikitin and Lidke ice streams. Our Twin Otter aircraft was equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, radar altimeter for surface mapping, wing-tip magnetometers, an iMAR strapdown gravity system, and a new ice-sounding radar system (PASIN-2). We present here the full radar dataset consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data.

  • An airborne radar survey was flown as part of the BBAS science programme funded by the British Antarctic Survey over the Pine Island Glacier system during the austral summer of 2004/05. This survey was a collaborative US/UK field campaign which undertook a systematic geophysical survey of the entire Amundsen Sea embayment using comparable airborne survey systems mounted in Twin Otter aircraft. Operating from a temporary field camp (PNE, S 77deg34'' W 095deg56''), we collected ~35,000 km of airborne survey data. Our aircraft was equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, radar altimeter for surface mapping, wing-tip magnetometers, gravity meter, and the first version of a new ice-sounding radar system (PASIN) used for the first time to support this survey. We present here the full radar dataset consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data.

  • We use polarimetric radar sounding to investigate variation in ice crystal orientation fabric within the near-surface (top 40-300 m) of Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. To assess the influence of the fabric on ice flow, we use an analytical model to derive anisotropic enhancements of the flow law from the fabric measurements. In the shallowest ice (40-100 m) the azimuthal fabric orientation is consistent with flow-induced development and correlates with the surface strain field. Notably, toward the ice-stream margins, both the horizontal compression angle and fabric orientation tend toward 45 degrees relative to ice flow. This result is consistent with theoretical predictions of flow-induced fabric under simple shear, but to our knowledge has never been observed. The fabric orientation in deeper ice (100-300 m) is significantly misaligned with shallower ice in some locations, and therefore inconsistent with the local surface strain field. This result represents a new challenge for ice flow models which typically infer basal properties from the surface conditions assuming simplified vertical variation of ice flow. Our technique retrieves azimuthal variations in fabric but is insensitive to vertical variation, and we therefore constrain the fabric and rheology within two end-members: a vertical girdle or a horizontal pole. Our hypotheses are that fabric near the center of the ice-stream tends to a vertical girdle that enhances horizontal compression, and near the ice-stream margins tends to a horizontal pole that enhances lateral shear. ApRES radar data were collected as part of the BEAMISH Project (NERC AFI award numbers NE/G014159/1 and NE/G013187/1). Tom Jordan would like to acknowledge support from EU Horizon 2020 grant 747336-BRISRES-H2020-MSCA-IF-2016.

  • This dataset contains bed and surface elevation picks derived from airborne radar collected in 2015/16 over Foundation Ice Stream and Filchner Ice Shelf as part of the 5-year Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS) project funded by NERC (grant reference number: NE/L013770/1) and awarded to the British Antarctic Survey with contribution from the National Oceanography Centre, the Met Office Hadley Centre, University College London, the University of Exeter, Oxford University, and the Alfred Wenger Institute. The aim of this project was to investigate how the Filchner Ice Shelf might respond to a warmer world, and what the impact of sea-level rise could be by the middle of this century. This collaborative initiative collected ~7,000 line-km of new aerogeophysical data using the 150MHz PASIN radar echo sounding system (Corr et al., 2007) deployed on a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Twin Otter.

  • During the austral summer of 2015/16, a major international collaboration funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and with in-kind contribution from the British Antarctic Survey, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF), acquired ~38,000 line km of aerogeophysical data. The primary objective of the POLARGAP campaign was to carry out an airborne gravity survey covering the southern polar gap of the ESA gravity field mission GOCE, beyond the coverage of the GOCE orbit (south of 83.5degS), however aeromagnetics and ice-penetrating radar data were also opportunistically acquired. This survey covers the South Pole and Recovery Lakes, as well as parts of the Support Force, Foundation and Recovery Glaciers. Our Twin Otter aircraft was equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, radar altimeter for surface mapping, wing-tip magnetometers, an air-sea gravity meter, and a new ice-sounding radar system (PASIN-2). We present here the full radar dataset consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data. NOTE: Please note that an issue with the floats in the NetCDF variable "UTC_time_layerData" has resulted in this variable having rounded up decimal numbers. In order to fix this issue, we advise users who need this variable to download the separately published bed pick data for the POLARGAP survey (doi: https://doi.org/10.5285/d55e87dd-a74d-4182-be99-93ab805103ab) and use the ''DateTime_YYYY-MM-DD_HH:MM:SS.S'' column which is the same as the one used to produce the NetCDF.

  • During the austral summer of 2005/06 a collaborative UK/Italian field campaign collected ~61,000 line km of aerogeophysical data over the previously poorly surveyed Wilkes subglacial basin, Dome C, Transantarctic Mountains, George V Land and Northern Victoria Land using airborne survey systems mounted in a Twin Otter aircraft. Our aircraft was equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, radar altimeter for surface mapping, wing-tip magnetometers, a LaCoste and Romberg air-sea gravimeter, and an ice-sounding radar system (PASIN). We present here the full radar dataset consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data.

  • An airborne radar survey was flown as part of the seven nation Antarctica''s Gamburtsev Province (AGAP) expedition over the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, Dome A, and the interior of East Antarctica during the International Polar Year 2007-2009. Operating from field camps located on either side of Dome A (namely AGAP-N and AGAP-S), we collected ~120,000 km (equivalent to 180,000 km2) of airborne survey data using two Twin Otter aircrafts - one from BAS and one from the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). The aircrafts were equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, laser ranging systems, magnetometers, gravity meters, and ice-sounding radars. We present here the full radar dataset from the BAS PASIN radar system consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data.

  • An airborne radar survey was flown during the austral summer of 2015/16 over the Foundation Ice Stream, Bungenstock Ice Rise, and the Filchner ice shelf as part of the 5-year Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS) project. This project was a NERC-funded (grant reference number: NE/L013770/1) collaborative initiative between the British Antarctic Survey, the National Oceanography Centre, the Met Office Hadley Centre, University College London, the University of Exeter, Oxford University, and the Alfred Wenger Institute to investigate how the Filchner Ice Shelf might respond to a warmer world, and what the impact of sea-level rise could be by the middle of this century. The 2015/16 aerogeophysics survey acquired ~7,000 line km of aerogeophysical data with a particular focus on the Foundation Ice Stream. Our Twin Otter aircraft was equipped with dual-frequency carrier-phase GPS for navigation, radar altimeter for surface mapping, wing-tip magnetometers, and a new ice-sounding radar system (PASIN-2). We present here the full radar dataset consisting of the deep-sounding chirp and shallow-sounding pulse-acquired data in their processed form, as well as the navigational information of each trace, the surface and bed elevation picks, ice thickness, and calculated absolute surface and bed elevations. This dataset comes primarily in the form of NetCDF and georeferenced SEGY files. To interactively engage with this newly-published dataset, we also created segmented quicklook PDF files of the radar data.

  • This dataset contains bed and surface elevation picks derived from airborne radar collected in 2016/17 over the Filchner Ice Shelf and Halley Ice Shelf (West Antarctica) as part of the 5-year Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS) project funded by NERC (grant reference number: NE/L013770/1) and awarded to the British Antarctic Survey with contribution from the National Oceanography Centre, the Met Office Hadley Centre, University College London, the University of Exeter, Oxford University, and the Alfred Wenger Institute. The aim of this project was to investigate how the Filchner Ice Shelf might respond to a warmer world, and what the impact of sea-level rise could be by the middle of this century. This collaborative initiative collected ~15,000 line-km of new aerogeophysical data using the 150MHz PASIN radar echo sounding system (Corr et al., 2007) deployed on a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Twin Otter. The majority of flights were flown as part of FISS over the Support Force, Recovery, Slessor, and Bailey ice streams. Separate flights over Halley 6 research station and Brunt Ice Shelf were also collected as part of this season. The bed and surface elevation picks for the English Coast part of this season are available at: https://doi.org/10.5285/e07d62bf-d58c-4187-a019-59be998939cc.

  • This data set corresponds to the processing of data acquired by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) PASIN2 (Polarimetric Airborne Scientific INstrument, mark 2), designed for deep ice sounding and basal 3D-mapping. The dataset includes the processed calibration data collected over the sea surface near Rothera Research Station during the Antarctic Summers campaigns in 2016/17 FISS (Filchner Ice Shelf System) and 2019/20 BEAMISH (Bed Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History) projects, and the processed SAR images as depth profiles in the Recovery Ice Stream near its grounding line, in 2016/17 (FISS). With multiple antennas for transmission and reception at 150-MHz central frequency, and an across-track physical array, PASIN2 resolves the ambiguities for distinguishing between scatterers from port and starboard directions. After processing several 2D SAR images (range and along-track dimensions) with transmitter-receiver pairs, the directional ambiguities are resolved, obtaining the across-track Direction of Arrival (DoA, elevation angle) estimation. Finally, from the 3D geometry of range, along-track and across-track angle, the real depths and across-track distances are estimated, regarding the case of the incorrectly assumed vertical DoA of a single SAR image. The calibration flights assessed and validated the instrument antenna patterns and processing performances. In this dataset, only the simulated and measured antenna patterns, and SAR and DoA images are included. By resolving directional ambiguities and accounting for reflector across-track location, the true ice thickness and bed elevation are obtained, thereby removing the error of the usual assumption of vertical DoA, that greatly influence the output of flow models of ice dynamics. This work was supported by NERC grant reference NE/L013444/1.