Simulation of the Measurement of Arctic Snow Thickness Using Ground-Penetrating Radar

Khangerey, Rauan; Khalil, Kamal; Wilkinson, Jeremy; Marsh, Liam

Simulation of the Measurement of Arctic Snow Thickness Using Ground-Penetrating Radar

Khangerey, Rauan; Khalil, Kamal; Wilkinson, Jeremy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7166-3042; Marsh, Liam. 2025 Simulation of the Measurement of Arctic Snow Thickness Using Ground-Penetrating Radar. In: 2025 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium (SAS), Newcastle, United Kingdom, 8-10 July 2025. IEEE, 1-6.

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/SAS65169.2025.11105131

Abstract/Summary

A dual-modality sensor combining ground-penerating radar and electromagnetic induction for the measurement of sea ice thickness is proposed. Though inductive sensing alone is widely used for ice thickness measurement over sea water, it cannot differentiate between air, snow and ice. Radar will be integrated into the system to measure liftoff from the snow surface and the depth of the snow above the ice. Unlike sea ice, which is a lossy material and difficult to measure directly using ground-penetrating radar, snow is a less dispersive medium with a low relative permittivity. A pair of bowtie antennas were chosen for the radar due to their wide bandwidth and their current distribution, which allows for its material and surface area to be significantly reduced, decreasing crosstalk with the inductive subsystem. The prototype antennas for the system were simulated over a block of snow with varying thickness and were shown to be capable of measuring between 80 and 340 mm, the average maximum spring-time Arctic snow depth. A clear trend in the time delay of the return signal representing the snow-ice boundary was found, with the inverted distance measurement closely corresponding to the simulated snow thickness. Further work involving the simulation of the full antenna PCB with supporting feed structure is discussed.

Item Type:

Publication - Conference Item (Paper)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1109/SAS65169.2025.11105131

ISBN:

979-8-3315-1193-7

Additional Keywords:

Ground-penetrating radar, time domain simulation, bowtie antennas, electromagnetic induction

NORA Subject Terms:

Electronics, Engineering and Technology
Marine Sciences

Date made live:

19 Aug 2025 13:11 +0 (UTC)