Electrical Resistivity Profiles and Temperatures in the Ross Ice Shelf

Abstract

During the 1973-74 Antarctic field season, two electrical resistivity profiles were completed along directions perpendicular to each other at a site in the south-easternpart of the Ross Ice Shelf. These profiles differ from each other only at short electrode spacings (less than 10 m) indicating no measurable horizontal anisotropy below the uppermost firn zone. The shape of the apparent resistivity curves is similar to that found by Hochstein on the Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island, but is displaced toward lower resistivities despite the colder 10 m temperature (—29°C instead of —26°C) at the more southerly site. Some factor other than temperature must therefore be effective in determining the overall magnitude of the resistivities in the shelf, although the variation with depth can still be expected to be primarily a temperature phenomenon.

A computer program has been written to calculate apparent resistivities based on Crary’s analysis of temperatures in an ice shelf. Results are not yet available; when completed they should indicate the sensitivity of the resistivity measurements to differences in the temperature- depth profile, and hence their usefulness in estimating bottom melt/freeze rates.