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

[1] 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.

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