Speaker
Description
I will present the design of a permittivity sensor that can be attached to a melting probe and measure the respective ice properties during the melting process, yielding in a comprehensive permittivity profile. Melting probes were already successfully utilized in terrestrial cryospheres, such as alpine glaciers and Antarctica. Further applications to cross the ice shield on Dome C in Antarctica or even on icy moons in the outer solar system, such as Europa, are already planned, within the TRIPLE project line funded by the German aerospace centre (DLR). A sensor measuring the permittivity of the surrounding ice in-situ during melting could provide valuable data about the ice properties. The respective density of the ice is correlated with the permittivity, or volcanic ash layers can be identified through permittivity measurements. Another application could be to correct distance measurements from radar travel times within the ice.
I will also show how a melting probe which is equipped with a permittivity sensor could help for radio-wave detection of ultra-high energy neutrinos in experiments like ARA and ARIANNA or for IceCube-Gen2. On the one hand a device to bring the antennas, for measuring the Askaryan effect, into the ice, which could be done by a melting probe. On the other hand, you need a very precise permittivity profile from the ice shell to detect the radio emission to reconstruct the neutrino energy and arrival direction.
The sensor is designed to operate in the frequency range of 0.1 – 3.0 GHz and works in the near field range, which is defined to be within one wavelength. The concept of this sensor is based on an open coaxial probe, which is pressed on the medium of interest. The measurement principle and calibration techniques, as well as first measurement results from a glacier in Switzerland (Jungfraufirn) will be presented.
