ICE SHEET DYNAMICS AND STRUCTURE IN THE AREA OF ICE RUNWAY AT MIRNY STATION, EAST ANTARCTICA (BASED ON THE DATA COLLECTED DURING THE 2016/17 SUMMER AND WINTER SEASONS)
S.V. Popov1,2, A.L. Novikov3, A.D. Belkov4, M.P. Kashkevich2, S.V. Tyurin2, V.L.Mart’yanov3, V.V. Lukin3
1 Polar Marine Geosurvey Expedition (PMGE), 24, Pobeda str., Lomonosov, St. Petersburg, 198412, Russia; spopov67@yandex.ru
2 Saint Petersburg State University, 7/9, Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia
3 Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), 38, Beringa str., St. Petersburg, 199397, Russia
4 JSC “Aerogeodesya”, 8, Buharestskaya str., St. Petersburg, 192102, Russia
Comprehensive glaciological and geophysical applied investigations were performed during the austral winter of the 61st RAE (2016) and austral summer field season of the 62nd RAE (2016/17) in the area of Russian Mirny Station (East Antarctica). The visual and instrumental observations have revealed that the landing strip site is completely safe for aviation operations. The ice surface elevation chart with the accuracy of 15 cm has been compiled based on collected geodetic data. The height varies from 37 m in the northern part to 71 m in the southwest. The monitoring results have demonstrated that the glacier flow velocity varies from approximately 6 to 80 m/year. Multi-offset soundings allowed improving the dielectric permittivity model of the ice sheet and estimating its moisture content to the depth of about 25 m in two points.
East Antarctica, Mirny Station, GPR sounding, multi-offset soundings, ice dynamics, ice sheet structure