HR: 15:00h
AN: H23H-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Exploring Permafrost with Multi-Channel GPR
AU: * Roth, K
EM: kurt.roth@iup.uni-heidelberg.de
AF: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Heidelberg, D-69120, Germany
AU: Wollschlaeger, U
EM: ute.wollschlaeger@iup.uni-heidelberg.de
AF: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Heidelberg, D-69120, Germany
AU: Gerhards, H
EM: Holger.Gerhards@iup.uni-heidelberg.de
AF: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Heidelberg, D-69120, Germany
AU: Yu, Q
EM: yuqh@ns.lzb.ac.cn
AF: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental & Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences 260 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China
AB: The active layer of permafrost soils is typically characterized by a spatially varying depth that is related to surface features, soil thermal properties, and water flow. Generally, a considerable variation of the liquid water content is associated with this spatial structure. The concomitant variation of both, depth of reflector and water content, prevents the quantitative exploration of such environments with traditional single-channel GPR. Indeed, we demonstrate that simple-minded interpretations of single-channel GPR-measurements may lead to qualitatively wrong results. Multi-channel GPR is an attractive solution to this problem since it allows to monitor depth and water content independently and at roughly the same operating speed as single-channel instruments. We demonstrate this for sites in the Aksai Chin region of Western Tibet, China, where we explored the surface topography of the ice table in an alluvial fan and relate it to the subsurface hydrology. As a second example the ice table beneath a road is determined as a prerequisite to assess its impact and stability.
DE: 0702 Permafrost (0475)
DE: 0706 Active layer
DE: 0710 Periglacial processes
DE: 0794 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0994 Instruments and techniques
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting