Abstract

Radio echo sounding has been one of the most utilized techniques in Chile in recent years for measuring ice thickness, particularly for glaciers in the central Chilean Andes and in the Patagonian Ice Fields. In this article, the main surveying systems and the most representative results are presented. A helicopter-borne system, consisting of bow-tie dipole antennas with frequencies between 20 to 50 MHz, was successfully tested at several glaciers that had previously been poorly studied due to their difficult and remote terrain. For these glaciers, the operational performance and electronic design of the system proved appropriate for detecting internal ice structures and ice thicknesses. Surveys carried out at Glaciar Olivares Alfa (33°11’ S, 70°13’ W, 3.91 km2 in 2013), for example, obtained a maximum ice thickness of 129 m. Survey density at this glacier allowed determination of ice volume equating to 0.17 ± 0.02 km3 w.e.