Geojiyon, Exploring 3,500m Thick Antarctic Ice with Our Technology

Deep Ice Sheet Confirmed by Airborne Radar Survey
Key Data for Climate Change Research

A successful exploration of a 3,500m-thick Antarctic glacier containing climate information from 1.5 million years ago has been achieved using our technology.

Cross-section of a glacier obtained through radar exploration. The horizontal lines represent glacier layers, and at approximately 3500 meters, the glacier ends and the ground appears. Photo by Korea Polar Research Institute

On the 5th, the Korea Polar Research Institute announced that Dr. Lee Juhan's research team, in collaboration with the University of Alabama, USA, conducted an exploration of Dome C in the Antarctic interior at the end of last year using a deep ice-penetrating radar they jointly developed. Dome C is known as one of the locations in Antarctica with the thickest glaciers.

The newly developed glacier radar, designed to be attached to a light aircraft, extended the exploration range to 1,500 km, more than six times greater than when using a helicopter. The total exploration distance was 2,800 km, and the average thickness of the glacier confirmed by the radar reached 3,000m. The Korea Polar Research Institute explained that they obtained visual data capable of identifying not only the glacier layers but also the structure of the Antarctic continent beneath the glacier and the presence or absence of subglacial lakes.

An image of a Basler aircraft equipped with a glacier-penetrating radar antenna on its wing. Photo by Korea Polar Research Institute

After four years of research since 2018, the research team developed world-class radar technology capable of precise analysis up to a depth of 4,000m. Following data analysis and refinement, the team plans to conduct additional explorations over the next three years to select candidate sites for deep ice drilling.

This achievement is expected to provide important clues for climate change research. Dr. Lee Juhan, director of the Future Technology Center, explained, “The Antarctic glaciers are Earth's archives densely recording ancient climates.” It is estimated that glaciers thicker than 3,000m contain atmospheric information from at least 1.5 million years ago.

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