Articles | Volume 14, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4495-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4495-2020
Research article
 | 
08 Dec 2020
Research article |  | 08 Dec 2020

The role of electrical conductivity in radar wave reflection from glacier beds

Slawek M. Tulaczyk and Neil T. Foley

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Interactive discussion

Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (17 Jun 2020) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Slawek Tulaczyk on behalf of the Authors (29 Jul 2020)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 Aug 2020) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (07 Aug 2020)
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (20 Sep 2020)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (06 Oct 2020) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Slawek Tulaczyk on behalf of the Authors (16 Oct 2020)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (29 Oct 2020) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Slawek Tulaczyk on behalf of the Authors (02 Nov 2020)  Manuscript 
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Short summary
Much of what we know about materials hidden beneath glaciers and ice sheets on Earth has been interpreted using radar reflection from the ice base. A common assumption is that electrical conductivity of the sub-ice materials does not influence the reflection strength and that the latter is controlled only by permittivity, which depends on the fraction of water in these materials. Here we argue that sub-ice electrical conductivity should be generally considered when interpreting radar records.