Steinhage, Daniel; Jansen, Daniela; Franke, Steven; Helm, Veit; Lilien, David A; Dahl-Jensen, Dorthe (2025): ARK 2023: AWI airborne ultra-wideband radar data over the Müller Ice Cap, Umingmat Nunaat (Axel Heiberg Island), Canadian Arctic (The Müller Ice Cap Project) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.980473
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Published: 2025-04-22 • DOI registered: 2025-05-21
Abstract:
This dataset contains airborne radar data acquired using the Alfred Wegener Institutes multi-channel ultra-wideband (AWI UWB) radar system during the Arctic season of 2023 in the Canadian Arctic. The profiles extend across the Müller Ice Cap on Umingmat Nunaat (Axel Heiberg Island), Nunavut, Canada, ∼80°N. The radar data show that some areas near the top of the ice cap are more than 600 m thick, have nearly stable surface elevation, and flow slowly, making them good candidates for an ice core with an undisturbed Holocene climate record (Lilien et al., 2024). The data are available as netCDF files (including waveforms and metadata), KML files of the profile line locations, and quicklook images of the radargrams.
Keyword(s):
References:
Lilien, David A; Nymand, Niels Fabrin; Gerber, Tamara Annina; Steinhage, Daniel; Jansen, Daniela; Thomson, Laura; Myers, Madeline; Franke, Steven; Taylor, Drew; Gogineni, Prasad; Lemes, Marcos; Vinther, Bo Møllesøe; Dahl-Jensen, Dorthe (2024): Potential to recover a record of Holocene climate and sea ice from Müller Ice Cap, Canada. Journal of Glaciology, 70, e72, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.75
Funding:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (AWI), grant/award no. AWI_PA_02140: P5-240_MullerIceCap_2023
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 74.722069 * Median Longitude: -94.983463 * South-bound Latitude: 74.722063 * West-bound Longitude: -94.983480 * North-bound Latitude: 74.722076 * East-bound Longitude: -94.983438
Date/Time Start: 2023-05-08T14:42:43 * Date/Time End: 2023-05-09T20:14:37
Event(s):
P5_240_MullerIceCap_2023_202305080101 * Latitude Start: 74.722076 * Longitude Start: -94.983438 * Latitude End: 74.722063 * Longitude End: -94.983477 * Date/Time Start: 2023-05-08T14:42:43 * Date/Time End: 2023-05-08T21:43:42 * Campaign: P5-240_MullerIceCap_2023 (The Mueller Ice Cap) * Basis: POLAR 5 * Method/Device: Aircraft (AC)
P5_240_MullerIceCap_2023_202305090201 * Latitude Start: 74.722064 * Longitude Start: -94.983480 * Latitude End: 74.722072 * Longitude End: -94.983455 * Date/Time Start: 2023-05-09T14:40:37 * Date/Time End: 2023-05-09T20:14:37 * Campaign: P5-240_MullerIceCap_2023 (The Mueller Ice Cap) * Basis: POLAR 5 * Method/Device: Aircraft (AC)
Comment:
Owner / PI: Daniel Steinhage (AWI) & Dorthe Dahl-Jensen (University of Manitoba)
Email address of the provider:
daniel.steinhage@awi.de
daniela.jansen@awi.de
veit.helm@awi.de
Instrument used: AWI UWB (MCoRDS 5)
Data products: CSARP_standard (SAR focussed), CSARP_qlook (unfocussed)
Data product documentation: https://data.cresis.ku.edu/data/rds/rds_readme.pdf
Method of navigation : GPS data was acquired by four NovAtel DL-V3 GPS receivers operating at 20Hz
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The netCDF files contain the following variables:
altitude: Platform altitude (WGS84) in meters
bed_elevation: Bed elevation for each trace (without applying a firn correction and permitivity of ice: 3.15) in meters
bed_pick: picked Bed location for each trace, expressed as twt in seconds from time zero
data: Radar data (Values in dBm after DC conversion)
data_agc: Scaled radar data using automatic gain control (AGC)
distance: Along-track distance in meters
ice_thickness: Ice thickness for each trace (without applying a firn correction and permitivity of ice: 3.15) in meters
lat: Latitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)
lon: Longitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)
range: Range between sensor and surface in meters
spacing: Along-track trace to trace spacing in meters
surface: Surface elevation derived from radar (WGS84) in meters
surface_pick: Picked surface reflection in two-way travel time in seconds
time: Seconds of day
twt: Two-way travel time (twt) in seconds
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Ice-base picks were taken from Lilien et al. (2024).
Note that the surface picks were quality-checked for the standard product. For the qlook product only an auto-tracked surface pick is available.
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Season | Season | Steinhage, Daniel | |||
| 2 | Event label | Event | Steinhage, Daniel | |||
| 3 | Profile ID | Profile ID | Steinhage, Daniel | |||
| 4 | Radar product | Radar prod | Steinhage, Daniel | |||
| 5 | netCDF file | netCDF | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | standard | |
| 6 | netCDF file (File Size) | netCDF (Size) | Bytes | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | standard |
| 7 | netCDF file | netCDF | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | qlook | |
| 8 | GIS file | GIS | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | KML Files, standard | |
| 9 | GIS file | GIS | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | KML Files, qlook | |
| 10 | Image | IMAGE | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | Quicklooks, standard | |
| 11 | Image | IMAGE | Steinhage, Daniel | Ultra-wideband radar (UWB), MCoRDS 5 | Quicklooks, qlook |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
270 data points