Ground-Truth Observations of Ice-Covered North Slope Lakes Imaged by Radar

Abstract

Field observations support the interpretation that differences in the strength of radar returns from the ice covers of lakes on the North Slope of Alaska can be used to determine where the lake is frozen completely to the bottom. An ice/frozen soil interface is indicated by a weak return and an ice/ water interface by a strong return. The immediate value of this result is that SLAR (side-looking airborne radar) imagery can now be used to prepare maps of large areas of the North Slope showing where the lakes are shallower or deeper than 1.7m (the approximate draft of the lake ice at the time of the SLAR flights). The bathymetry of these shallow lakes is largely unknown and is not obvious from their sizes or outlines. Such information could be very useful, for example in finding suitable year-round water supplies.