Pathways to Multitemporal Radar Sounding in Terrestrial Glaciology

Radar sounding from airborne and ground-based platforms is one of the most powerful geophysical techniques in terrestrial glaciology. It can be used to probe a wide range of conditions from the near surface to the base of ice sheets and ice shelves. However, although these conditions are known to evolve on timescales from hours to centuries, the vast majority of terrestrial radar sounding observations are the lone observation at their given location. This has prevented the study of temporally evolving subglacial conditions using radar sounding in all but the most heavily-surveyed regions. Fortunately, recent advances in multi-system data analysis, digitized archival radar film, high-altitude autonomous sounding, and sounder sensor networks are putting terrestrial multitemporal radar sounding within reach. This paper discusses those advances as well as pathways to their large-scale implementation.