Ice‐ and Soil‐Wedge Dynamics in the Kapp Linné Area, Svalbard, Investigated by Two‐ and Three‐Dimensional GPR and Ground Thermal and Acceleration Regimes

GPR is applied to image subsurface structures below non‐sorted polygons in Kapp Linné, Svalbard, where ice and active‐layer soil wedges co‐exist within a small area. Two‐dimensional GPR images ice wedges as hyperbolic reflections extending down from the frost table. However, some ice‐wedge signals are obscured or masked by similar hyperbolic reflections produced by stones or active‐layer soil wedges. Three‐dimensional GPR images ice wedges as linear amplitude anomalies, which excludes the possibility of misinterpretation and offers more reliable results. GPR investigations show that ice wedges are distributed sporadically in lower (younger) beach ridges, but not in higher (older) ones.

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