Simultaneous diffraction and reflection imaging framework on ground penetrating radar data from Antarctica

Abstract

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a commonly used technology for identifying and examining ice. The low electrical conductivity and the uniformity of ice covers provide GPR with exceptional signal penetration and, thus, the ability to reveal the internal layers of glaciers. To extract the necessary information, wavefield separation and imaging processing is required. This abstract presents a simultaneous diffraction and reflection imaging (SDRI) framework for ice detection using GPR data. The framework can extract hidden information in the recorded data by using wavefield separation and enhancement, for instance, the internal small-scale diffracted objects and the internal reflection layer. The traditional methods of processing and imaging data from GPR cannot provide a comprehensive understanding of the subsurface, particularly in Antarctica, due to the mutual interference between diffraction and reflection energy. This leads to the valuable geological information being concealed. The SDRI framework allows for information from both diffraction and reflection to be obtained without any interference. The diffraction method will focus on small-scale geological features while reflection will highlight large-scale structural information. The proposed SDRI framework has been applied to a field ice GPR data set from Antarctica, demonstrating its effectiveness in uncovering the hidden geology buried under the ice.