The distribution of basal water between Antarctic subglacial lakes from radar sounding.

Antarctica's subglacial lakes have two end member geophysical expressions: as hydraulically flat, radar reflective regions highlighted in ice surface topography and radar sounding profiles ('definite lakes'), and as localized sites of elevation change identified from repeat elevation observations ('active lakes') that are often found in fast flowing ice streams or enhanced ice flow tributaries. While 'definite lakes' can be identified readily by high bed reflectivity in radar sounding, the identification and characterization of less distinct subglacial lakes and water systems with radar sounding are complicated by variable radio-wave attenuation in the overlying ice. When relying on repeat elevation observations, the relatively short times series and biased distribution of elevation observations, along with the episodic nature of 'active lake' outflow and replenishment, limit our understanding of how water flows under the ice sheet. Using recently developed methods for quantifying the radar scattering behaviour of the basal interface of the ice, we can avoid the problem of attenuation, and observe the plumbing of the subglacial landscape. In West Antarctica's Ross Sea Embayment, we confirm that extensive distributed water systems underlie these ice streams. Distributed water sheets are upstream in the onset regions of fast flow, while canal systems underly downstream regions of fast flow. In East Antarctica, we use specularity analysis to recover substantial hydraulic connectivity extending beyond previous knowledge, connecting the lakes already delineated by traditional radar sounding or surface elevation transients.

Radar sounding evidence for buried glaciers in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.

Lobate features abutting massifs and escarpments in the middle latitudes of Mars have been recognized in images for decades, but their true nature has been controversial, with hypotheses of origin such as ice-lubricated debris flows or glaciers covered by a layer of surface debris. These models imply an ice content ranging from minor and interstitial to massive and relatively pure. Soundings of these deposits in the eastern Hellas region by the Shallow Radar on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal radar properties entirely consistent with massive water ice, supporting the debris-covered glacier hypothesis. The results imply that these glaciers formed in a previous climate conducive to glaciation at middle latitudes. Such features may collectively represent the most extensive nonpolar ice yet recognized on Mars.