Design, Development, Field Observations, and Preliminary Results of the Coherent Antarctic Radar Depth Sounder (CARDS) of the University of Kansas, U.S.A

A modern coherent Antarctic radar depth sounder for probing the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland has been designed and developed by the University of Kansas. It was successfully tested during the austral summers of 1987 and 1988 at Downstream Β and Upstream B, Antarctica. Ground-based measurements were made with the radar in a mobile hut hauled by a Sno-cat in 1987 and in a Spryte vehicle in 1988.The coherent Antarctic radar depth sounder (CARDS) is an unfocussed synthetic-aperture chirp radar where the along-track resolution is improved by extensive coherent integration. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are used to implement pulse expansion and compression. A common stable oscillator for the transmitter and the receiver establishes coherency. The system signal-to-noise ratio is enhanced by pulse compression and coherent integration. Antennas for the ground-based measurements are configured with an array of eight dipole elements, four active and four passive, the latter acting as reflectors. The aircraft antennas also consist of four active elements hung underneath the two wings. The wings serve as reflectors. A PC facilitates system control and data recording on a high-density recorder. Α-scope plots of selected records allow frequent field checks on system performance. More descriptive display facilities have been incorporated in the latest version of the system.The radar transmits 60 ns, 20 W peak power at 150 MHz. The number of coherent integrations is selectable up to 64 k. The system is capable of 5 m range resolution and 5 km range in ice. A programmable sensitivity time control (STC) increases the receiver dynamic range. System parameters such as pulse-repetition frequency, number of integrations, and display modes can be chosen during field operations by user-friendly software.This paper describes the design and field operations of the system. Some results of the 1987 operations at Downstream Β are presented.