Quality
Ice sheet surface elevations were obtained along a total flight path length of some 8800 km. The ANARE Mk 2 100 MHz ice radar produced peak power of 3 kW with a pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz. The receiver was linear with manual gain control. The radar unit operated from a Pilatus-Porter fixed wing aircraft moving at an average speed of 180 km/hr (100 knot) with flight durations of around 4 ... hours and sounding height above the terrain typically 150 m. Separate transmit and receive antennas consisted of 1 driven element and 1 director using the aircraft wing as a reflector. Film records were manually scaled approximately every 1 km of flight path for aircraft-surface separation. Aneroid barometer readings were logged manually every 1-2 min for aircraft elevations. The data have been checked for internal consistency with crossovers of intersecting flight paths within the campaign, and from earlier Soviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE) flights in the area. Dead reckoning was adopted using visual landmarks (generally mountains) and a gyroscopic drift sight. A dedicated navigator was used on all flights. Positions were manually written to flight logging sheets and have an accuracy of 1 km or better.
An entry of -9999 in the spreadsheet indicates null data.
Access Constraints
Aircraft elevation data were logged manually from an aneroid barometer. Aircraft-surface separation was recorded on 35 mm black and white film. Data also stored on a spreadsheet ice sheet elevations (reduced data).
