Methods and results of measurements of the ice thickness of the glaciers Little Wiggins (Antarctic Peninsula) and Domashniy (Galindez Island)

Subglacial topography and thickness of ice caps on the Argentine Islands

“…The differences between our data and the data obtained by Levashov et al (2004) probably arise because of differences in applied methods of glacier thickness determination. Our results also do not support the hypothesis of a subglacial lake beneath the Galindez Island ice cap, as previously suggested by Bakhmutov et al (2006), as none of obtained GPR profiles shows any signs of a water body beneath or in the ice on Galindez Island.…”

“…In addition, recent ice drillings on Galindez Island further confirm our measurements (D. Pishniak, personal communication 2019). This suggests that previous ice thickness measurements on Galindez Island by Macheret and Moskalevski in 1998 (Bakhmutov et al 2006) were overestimates: 59.0 m (previous study) vs 35.3 m (this study). The results obtained by vertical electrical resonance sounding in 2004 were more realistic because it was determined that the maximum thickness of the Galindez Island ice cap reaches 48 m (Levashov et al 2004).…”

“…Thomas (1963) suggested that the subglacial surface of Galindez Island gradually decreases from the top of Woozle Hill to the ice cliff in the south. Direct thickness measurements of the Galindez Island ice cap were conducted for the first time in 1998 by the scientists Macheret and Moskalevski from the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Geography using GPR (Bakhmutov et al 2006). It was reported that the maximum thickness of ice reaches 59 m and that some part of the subglacial surface is below sea level.…”

“…After 1996, when the former British Faraday station (now called Akademik Vernadsky) was transferred to Ukraine, some new methods were used to study the ice caps of the Argentine Islands. Ground-penetrating radar and vertical electrical resonance sounding methods were used to measure the thickness of the Galindez Island ice cap (Levashov et al 2004, Bakhmutov et al 2006), and monitoring of the frontal parts of the ice caps on Galindez and Winter islands was started in 2002 using the photogrammetric method (Hlotov et al 2003, Cisak et al 2008, Tretyak et al 2016). Phototheodolite measurements were taken on Galindez Island (Hlotov et al 2003), and terrestrial laser scanning was used for the first time for observation of the termination line of the ice caps on Galindez and Winter islands in 2014 (Tretyak et al 2016).…”

A Brief Review of Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation Results of Ice Caps on Galindez, Winter and Skua Islands (Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica) for the Period April 2017 – January 2019

“…They app li ed a videoimpulse radiolocation method and de ter mi ned that maximum thickness of the ice was 59 m; velocity of electromagnetic waves was 167.8 ± 2 m/μs. In ad di tion, scientists are concluded that this glacier is related to the type of warm glaciers (Bakhmutov et al, 2006). In 2004, the thickness of the ice cap on Galindez Island was measured with vertical electric-resonance sounding.…”