Dispersion inversion of electromagnetic pulse propagation within freezing and thawing soil waveguides

van der Kruk, J.; Endres, A. L.; Steelman, C. M.; Vereecken, H.

doi:10.1029/2009GL039581

Journal Article

Dispersion inversion of electromagnetic pulse propagation within freezing and thawing soil waveguides

van der Kruk, J.FZJ* ; Steelman, C. M. ; Endres, A. L. ; Vereecken, H.FZJ*

2009
American Geophysical Union Washington, DC

Geophysical research letters 36, L18503 (2009) [10.1029/2009GL039581]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/20848 doi:10.1029/2009GL039581

Abstract: Freeze and thaw processes are important components in characterizing glacial, periglacial and frozen ground environments, and hence the response of cryospheric regions to climate change. High-frequency ground-penetrating radar is particularly well suited for monitoring the freezing and thawing processes within the shallow subsurface (i.e., < 1 m depth) due to its non-invasive nature and its sensitivity to the liquid water component in soil. The freezing of moist soil and thawing of frozen soil induce leaky and low-velocity waveguides, respectively. Within these waveguide layers, the internally reflected radar energy produces interfering multiples that appear as a package of dispersed waves. Here, we present a new method for characterizing very shallow freeze and thaw processes, in which the waveguide properties are obtained by inverting the observed dispersion curves. This new method can non-invasively monitor freezing and thawing processes in a wide range of glacial, periglacial and frozen ground studies. Citation: van der Kruk, J., C. M. Steelman, A. L. Endres, and H. Vereecken (2009), Dispersion inversion of electromagnetic pulse propagation within freezing and thawing soil waveguides, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L18503, doi:10.1029/2009GL039581.

Keyword(s): J

Classification:

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Note: This work was partly supported by a grant from ETH Zurich and by an Individual Discovery Grant to A. L. Endres and a Post Graduate Scholarship (PGS-M and PGS-D) to Colby Steelman from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We also thank Alicia and Murray Smith for the use of their property as our test site.

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