Insights into the nature of radar attenuation through impure ice from broadband dielectric spectroscopy of polar ice cores

Details Insights into the nature of radar attenuation through impure ice from broadband dielectric spectroscopy of polar ice cores Insights into the nature of radar attenuation through impure ice from broadband dielectric spectroscopy of polar ice cores

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p13g..03s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P13G-03

Physics

Geophysics

[0724] Cryosphere / Ice Cores, [0925] Exploration Geophysics / Magnetic And Electrical Methods, [5422] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Ices, [5460] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Physical Properties Of Materials

Scientific paper

Water ice is ubiquitous in our solar system and is a key target for planetary radar sounders. A primary unknown in many radar surveys is the energy loss due to conduction (attenuation) within the medium being studied. Electrical conduction through ice is controlled by the mobility, concentration and charge of lattice- and water-soluble impurities. Despite extensive study of the physical and chemical characteristics of lab-frozen and naturally forming ices, several questions have remained as to which impurities can increase conduction and the mechanisms by which this conduction occurs. Here we investigate the role of impurities in electrical conduction using broadband dielectric spectroscopy of terrestrial polar ice cores and report several findings of interest to present and future radar investigations of extraterrestrial ice masses. 1. The dielectric strength of meteoric ice-core samples we studied was often much less than that of pure lab-frozen ice, which suggests that the balance of minority and majority charge carriers in naturally forming ice is much closer to being "crossed-over" than previously realized. 2. Samples with high acid concentrations also have high HF conductivities due to an increase in L-defects caused by chloride, i.e., the ionic defects induced by acid in the lattice partition more chloride into the lattice for charge balance. This behavior explains the larger HF conductivity of acids per unit concentration versus that of chloride and their similar activation energies. 3. The DC conductivity of polar ice is much lower than reported previously from in situ Antarctic field surveys, and is best explained if conduction from acids arises from ionic defects in the ice lattice, rather than through liquid networks. Its conductivity is much less than that of single crystal ice because of the low conductivity of grain boundaries through which charges must migrate. 4. In nearly all the meteoric ice-core samples that we studied, we observed two dielectric relaxations. Their temperature dependencies imply that within most meteoric ices, there are essentially two populations of crystals (pure and salty). Previously, it had been suggested that there was only a single dielectric relaxation at an average "salty" value. 5. Ammonium-rich ice-core and lab-frozen samples have different activation energies than chloride-rich samples and increased conductivities, proving that Bjerrum-D defects formed by ammonium in the ice lattice are indeed mobile. This result supports the conclusions of a previous study of the LF properties of a central Greenland ice core, but is at odds with existing theory. The sum of our results further emphasizes the breadth of the dielectric behavior of polar ice and has greatly expanded our knowledge of the complex role of impurities in determining its dielectric properties. These data will be used to improve radar-attenuation models and predictions of the performance of planetary radars when sounding extraterrestrial ice masses, along with the interpretation of observed echoes.

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