Full Record - Phase-sensitive radar (ApRES) time series data from Thwaites eastern ice shelf, 2020

Phase-sensitive radar (ApRES) time series data from Thwaites eastern ice shelf, 2020

GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01641

Abstract:
The dataset comprises ApRES (Autonomous phase-sensitive Radio Echo Sounder) time series from four sites (G1-4) through the grounding zone of the eastern Thwaites ice shelf. The instruments were deployed in early 2020 and recovered in early 2021 as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) MELT project. The aim was to provide time series of basal melt rates and the vertical strain rate at each site.

The ApRES DAT files were converted to netCDF for publication. Each burst in an ApRES file maps straightforwardly to a group in the corresponding netCDF file. This is a lossless, reversible process.

The data were acquired under funding from ITGC: NE/S006656/1.

Citation:
Nicholls, K., & Holland, D. (2022). Phase-sensitive radar (ApRES) time series data from Thwaites eastern ice shelf, 2020 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b81bff87-3429-4754-b4b5-c6b58198e744

Access Data

GET DATA

https://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show?entryid=b81bff87-3429-4754-b4b5-c6b58198e744

PROJECT HOME PAGE

REFERENCE MATERIALS

SOFTWARE PACKAGES

https://pypi.org/project/bas-apres/0.1.0/

License

Access:	No restrictions apply.
Use:	Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Authors

Name	UK Polar Data Centre
Role(s)	Metadata Author
Organisation	British Antarctic Survey

Name	Keith W Nicholls
Role(s)	Investigator, Technical Contact
Organisation	British Antarctic Survey

Name	David M Holland
Role(s)	Investigator
Organisation	New York University

Basic Information

Creation Date:	2022-04-28
Dataset Progress:	Complete
Dataset Language:	English
ISO Topic Categories:	Geoscientific Information Oceans
Parameters:	Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Mass Balance/Ice Sheet Mass Balance Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Motion/Ice Sheet Motion Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Thickness/Ice Sheet Thickness Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Topography/Ice Sheet Topography Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glaciers Cryosphere > Snow/Ice > Ice Growth/Melt Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Mass Balance/Ice Sheet Mass Balance Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Motion/Ice Sheet Motion Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Thickness/Ice Sheet Thickness Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Topography/Ice Sheet Topography Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glaciers Hydrosphere > Snow/Ice > Ice Growth/Melt Spectral/Engineering > Radar

Additional Information

Reference:	Nicholls, K. W., Corr, H. F. J., Stewart, C. L., Lok, L. B., Brennan, P. V., & Vaughan, D. G. (2015). A ground-based radar for measuring vertical strain rates and time-varying basal melt rates in ice sheets and shelves. Journal of Glaciology, 61(230), 1079-1087. doi:10.3189/2015JoG15J073. Brennan, P.V., L-B Lok, K.W. Nicholls, and H.F.J. Corr (2013), Phase-sensitive FMCW radar system for high-precision Antarctic ice shelf profile monitoring, IET Rad., Son. & Nav., doi:10.1049/iet-rsn.2013.0053.
Quality:	The time series are raw, unprocessed data. They have no breaks.
Lineage/Methodology:	The datasets were collected using standard ApRES methodology with instrument configuration described in data headers. The radar bandwidth was 200 MHz, centred on 300 MHz with a 1-second chirp length at a power of 20 dBm. Bursts of 20 chirps were collected at 2-hourly intervals. The ApRES DAT files were converted to netCDF for publication, using the bas-apres Python package.

Extent

Temporal Coverage:
Start Date	2020-01-22
End Date	2020-12-28

Spatial Coverage:
Latitude
Southernmost	-75.21998
Northernmost	-75.19011
Longitude
Westernmost	-104.8247
Easternmost	-104.7924
Altitude
Min Altitude	N/A
Max Altitude	N/A
Depth
Min Depth	N/A
Max Depth	N/A

Location:
Location	Antarctica
Detailed Location	Grounding zone of the eastern ice shelf of Thwaites Glacier

Instrumentation

Sensor(s):	RADAR ECHO SOUNDERS
Data Collection:	Standard ApRES instruments were used, comprising an RMB2c radar board and a VAB Issue c controller board, with the controller running firmware version 103.1, under the Venom 20180522 issue of the Venom operating system. The ApRES DAT files were converted to netCDF for publication, using the bas-apres version 0.1.0 Python package.

Storage

Distribution:
Distribution Media	Online Internet (HTTP)
Distribution Size	25 GB
Distribution Format	netCDF
Fees	N/A

Data Storage:	The dataset consists of netCDF4 files, which are a lossless, reversible conversion of the field-acquired ApRES DAT files. Each ApRES DAT file was converted to a corresponding netCDF file. Each burst within the ApRES DAT file was mapped to a group in the netCDF file, with the burst header items becoming group-level attributes, and the burst data stored as a 2D data array. The data are organised by site (G1-4), with each site being a top-level directory containing timestamped subdirectories.