A Stanford team has created a shareable, low-cost ice-penetrating radar system called ORCA, designed to help researchers worldwide study the impacts of melting glaciers.
A team from Stanford has developed a low-cost ice-penetrating radar system that's meant to be shared, known as ORCA for Open Radar Code Architecture. It takes some sophisticated technology to peer through our planet's threatened ice sheets. But now researchers from around the world may have an easier way to explore the damage. A team from Stanford has developed a low-cost ice-penetrating radar system that's meant to be shared. It's known as ORCA for Open Radar Code Architecture.
'An ice-penetrating radar is a system uses relatively low frequency radio waves, usually looking straight down through the ice. It takes advantage of the fact that ice is relatively radio transparent at these like hundreds of megahertz and below frequencies. So, you're able to image through that ice, see the in-glacial layering and then see the bedrock that exists beneath the ice or the ocean if you're on an ice shelf or whatever it is,' said researcher Thomas Teisberg. At their lab at Stanford, Teisberg and fellow researcher Daniel May showed off the drones and radar kits that have been deployed in areas like Greenland and island glaciers in the Arctic Circle. They say peering through the ice is key to understanding melting glaciers and their potential effect on sea level rise. May has focused on the massive Thwaites Glacier, also known as the 'Doomsday Glacier,' melting in Antarctica. 'The geology below the glacier, as well as like the temperature within the glacier and trying to figure out how that that boundary is going to move over time,' May said.But often, just getting the radar equipment to the glacier is a major challenge. The Stanford team, including collaborator Anna Broome, has developed makeshift transport systems out of everything from snowmobiles to innertube mounted sleds. 'So, a standard sled wasn't going to do very well, because standard sled is you pass over even a small crevasse in the ice, then the sled can get stuck in that crevasse and then you have to dig it out'
GLACIERS MELTING ICE RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY SEA LEVEL RISE
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Opinion: Democrats ignored key issue — the cost of living — and it cost them the electionI thought Donald Trump would lose when he mentioned that immigrants were eating cats and dogs in Ohio. Or when a comedian at his rally mocked Puerto Ricans. Or when he called Nancy Pelosi the “B” w…
Read more »
Low-cost EV battery that uses sodium is poised for growthSodium-ion batteries in the news with announcement from world’s largest battery maker and a new initiative from U.S. national labs.
Read more »
Thanksgiving Dinner at Near 40-Year Low Cost Despite Grocery InflationWhile grocery prices have been soaring, Thanksgiving dinner is more affordable than it has been in nearly 40 years, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The estimated cost of a 10-person feast dropped 5% from last year to $58.08, or $5.81 per person. Adjusting for inflation, this year's meal is the least expensive in the 39-year history of the AFBF Thanksgiving survey, excluding the outlier year of 2020.
Read more »
Researchers 3D print compact, low-cost vortex beam generatorsResearchers have developed a 3D-printed device that generates twisting light beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM), a form of rotational energy that can carry more data than regular beams.
Read more »
Engineered additive makes low-cost renewable energy storage a possibilityAs part of an effort to overcome the long-term energy-storage challenge, engineers have invented a water-soluble chemical additive that improves the performance of a type of electrochemical storage called a bromide aqueous flow battery.
Read more »
Low cost, environmentally friendly gift wrapping ideas going viralTired of buying wrapping paper only to throw it away? Here's some popular gift wrap ideas that save money and help save the planet.
Read more »