Radioglaciology

I am also focused on the characterization of englacial and subglacial ice sheet conditions through radar sounding observations. Radar sounding can provide powerful observational constraints on the englacial material properties and thermal and hydrologic conditions of the bed. However, quantitative analysis of radar sounding data remains relatively rare. Statistical and machine learning approaches will be at the forefront of future radar sounding data analysis and can unlock new subsurface ice sheet insights. For example, I developed a novel statistical approach applied to radar data near the outflow of Wilkes Subglacial Basin in East Antarctica to locate regions where the bed is frozen and thawed, along with levels of confidence in the thermal state classifications. Not only did this analysis reveal variable basal thermal conditions in areas controlling the regions stability, but it also comprised the first radar-based assessment of subglacial thermal conditions. This work shows that novel methodological approaches can make it possible to observationally classify frozen and thawed bed, thereby laying the groundwork to use radar-inferred thermal state observations as model constraints.