eOsphere is pleased to be involved in a new study called EMMA to examine the feasibility of probing the Antarctic ice sheets using satellite borne radar. Radar frequencies at P-Band are able to penetrate deep into the ice sheets, which sometimes can extend over 4 km before reaching the bedrock. There is much scientific interest in providing accurate topographic maps of the bedrock, as well as examining whether the layering structures found within the ice sheets can be detected with radar systems looking down from a satellite. The EMMA project aims to improve electromagnetic scattering models by ensuring that they are in agreement with real experiments that have been conducted with airborne radar sounding missions conducted over the Antarctic peninsula. 

EMMA will be led by the Technical University of Denmark and is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA). Other project partners are the British Antarctic Survey and NOVELTIS.