A New Method of Subsurface Imaging—The LASI High Frequency Ellipticity System: Part 1. System Design and Development

A new electromagnetic (EM) imaging system has been developed that allows enhanced identification of buried hazardous waste and contaminated soil or groundwater. This system utilizes frequencies in the range of 31 kHz to 32 MHz, and as such fills an important gap between conventional low‐frequency EM induction surveys and high‐frequency ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) surveys. This capability permits interpretation of both conductivity and dielectric permittivity at depths of interest for environmental studies in lossy soils. Mapping the dielectric permittivity will allow location of certain environmental targets that are not detectable with the more commonly used conductivity (or resistivity) tools.This system will be described in a three part series: Part 1 (presented here) details the system design and development; Part 2 will describe the data processing and interpretation methods; and Part 3 will provide five case histories showing the use of this new system.The system involves measurement of the ellip...