Antarctic campaigns

As part of the National Antarctic Research Project (PNRA), a large number of RES (Radio Echo Sounding) measurements have been acquired on various expeditions to Antarctica. RES measurements with aircraft-mounted instrumentation (airborne RES) were carried out by various nations across the Antarctic continent. The Italian Radioglaciology group, from 1995 to 2003, carried out surveys for over 36,000 km, collecting radar profiles in the eastern sector of the continental glacier in Antarctica, including the coastline and outlet glaciers. These surveys were mainly carried out as part of the EPICA and BEDMAP projects, both of which are relevant to climatological studies. The first project (EPICA) was aimed at extracting a core containing climate data for the last million years.  The RES surveys were aimed at finding the optimal site where ice core drilling could be carried out and study palaeoclimate sequences that were as intact as possible, i.e. free of overlapping stratification due to glacial flow. It was likely that these ideal points would be found in the 'domes' surveys, which was indeed the case, together with preliminary information on ice characteristics and bedrock topography. The second project (BEDMAP 1 and 2) aimed to perform a continental-scale survey to determine the bedrock topography in order to assess the thickness of the Antarctic glacier.

The IRES measurements added to the huge amount of data collected by other international projects to try to quantify the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. Although global data are still lacking, the database available here helps to reduce uncertainty, especially with regard to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Dome C region. Therefore, surveys of the continental ice sheet and major outlet glaciers between the Italian and French bases have been extensively investigated. Data are available on outlet glaciers starting with the David-Drygalski, Campbell, Rennik, Ninnis, and Mertz, which drain to the sea most of the mass lost on the coastline comprising them. In addition, data on the glacier thickness of the region and data for a highly detailed bedrock map of the Dome C area are available in this IRES database.

  Given the large coverage, these two multinational projects reduce the uncertainty of previous estimates and offer new opportunities for detailed modelling of the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet. In each campaign, research objectives (missions) were defined, linked to the aims or objectives of the research projects funded in those years. The missions, carried out in collaboration with the University of Milan and the INGV in Rome, allowed us to deepen our knowledge of the characteristics and peculiarities of the Antarctic ice sheet and some of its glaciers. Each mission consists of several flights necessary to complete the investigation of a specific area. The entire database has been subdivided in this way for easy searching. The campaigns, missions and flights can be seen in the map on the Antarctic fligths. A list of the research campaigns and investigation areas follows:

• 1995: Dome Concordia, outlet glaciers of Victoria Land, Ross sea and Frontier Mountains
• 1997: Progetto Itase, Talos Dome, Frontier Mountain 
• 1999: Concordia region, Vostok, DC-DDU transect, Rennik, Mertz
• 2001: Concordia lake, Aurora rift, Talos- Concordia transect, DDU Talos Dome transect   
• 2003: Wilkes BAsin, Dome C region, Mertz, Itase, Purpoise bay,  Law Muis, Shackleton, West Ice Shelf, Amery

In the tables the fligths and data file  names of the acquired data:

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

Miss 01: DC - BIG GRID

Fligth 01 Big Flight v1

Fligth 02 Big Flight v2

Fligth 03 Big Flight v3

Miss 02: DC flight

 Fligth 01 Flight star v1

Miss 03: DC Star

Flight 01 - Ground Deep v1

Flight 02 - Ground Deep v2

Flight 03 - Ground Deep v3

Flight 04 - Ground Deep v4

Flight 05 - Ground Deep v5

Flight 06 - Ground Deep v6

Flight 07 - Ground Deep v7

Miss 12: Victoria Land

Flight v1

Flight v2

Flight v3

Flight v4

Flight v5

Flight v6

Flight v7

Flight v8

Miss 13: Ross sea - south 95

Flight 01

Miss 14: Ross sea - north 95

Flight 01

Flight 02

Flight 03

Miss 15: Frontier Mountains

Flight 01

Miss 04-Itase98

Flight 01

Flight 02

Miss 16-Ross sea -s.outh 97

Fligth 01

Miss 17-TD-Frontier Mounth

Flight 01

Flight 02

Miss 05: Dome C rgion

Flight 01 DC1

Flight 02 DC2

Flight 03 DC3

Miss 06: Dome C Vostok

Flight 01 Vk1

Flight 02 Vk2

Flight 03 Vk3

Flight 04 Vk4

Miss 07: Transet DC-DDU

Flight 01

Miss 19: Itase01 - Rennik - DDU

Flight 01

Flight 01

Miss 20: TD grid

Flight 01

Miss 21: Rennik - Mertz - DDU

Flight 01

Flight 02

Flight 03

Flight 04

Miss 22: Frost Gl

Flight 01

Miss 08: Lake Concordia

Flight 01

Miss 09: Aurora Rift

Flight 01 Rift 01

Flight 02 Rift 02

Miss 10: Itase 01 - TNB - TD - DC

Flight 01

Flight 02

Miss 11: Itase 01 - DDU - TD

Flight 01

Flight 02

Flight 03

Miss 18: Nansen - David

Flight 01

Flight 02

Miss 24: Wilkens Basin

Flight 01 volo02

Flight 02 volo03

Flight 03 volo04

Flight 04 volo05

Flight 05 volo06

Flight 06 volo07

Miss 25: Fossa

Flight 01 volo08

Flight 02 volo09

Flight 03 volo11

Miss 26: Laghi

Flight 01 volo10

Flight 02 volo11

Flight 03 volo13

Miss 27: Mertz

Flight 01 volo14

Flight 02 volo15

Flight 03 volo16

Miss 28: Itase

Flight 01 volo31

Flight 02 volo32

Miss 29: Purpoise Bay

Flight 01 volo17

Flight 02 volo30

Miss 30: Law - Muis

Flight 01 volo18

Flight 02 volo19

Flight 03 volo20

Flight 04 volo21

Flight 05 volo29

Miss 31: Shackleton

Flight 01 volo22

Flight 02 volo23

Flight 03 volo24

Flight 04 volo25

Flight 05 volo28

Miss 32: West Ice Shelf

Flight 01 volo26

Flight 02 volo27

Flight 03 volo33

Miss 33: Amery Ice Shelf

Flight 01 volo34

Flight 02 volo35

Flight 03 volo33

 

The radar Characteristic:

The radar instrumentation used in the various measurement campaigns is continuously changed and updated to obtain the best measurements. The table below shows the characteristics of the instrumentation in the various measurement campaigns. This information is also useful for the interpretation and analysis of the acquired data.