scholarly journals Instruments and Methods: A Digital Low-Frequency, Surface-Profiling Ice-Radar System

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (122) ◽  
pp. 112-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Wright ◽  
Steven M. Hodge ◽  
Jerry A. Bradley ◽  
Thomas P. Grover ◽  
Robert W. Jacobel

AbstractA new short-pulse digital profiling radar system that operates at lower frequencies than most ice radars used in polar regions to date has been designed and built by the U.S. Geological Survey. The transmitter is an avalanche transistor pulser which drives a resistively loaded dipole transmitting antenna. A similar, but separate antenna is connected to the receiver. The receiver has adjustable sensitivity time control (STC) of as much as 60 dB to compensate for attenuation and geometric spreading factors. A fiber-optic cable is used to transmit both control signals and data. The data-acquisition and display system incorporates very high-speed digitizing and signal averaging, real-time profile display, and data storage on standard computer nine-track magnetic tape.The system was successfully used on Ice Stream B in West Antarctica at centre frequencies of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12.5 MHz. Bottom-return signal-to-noise ratios of more than 40 dB were obtained at 2 MHz through 800 m of ice. Convoluted internal surfaces not related to present bottom topography were resolved within the ice streams and anomalous strong reflections or “bright spots” were identified near the base of the ice. At present, there is no satisfactory glaciological explanation for either of these observations.

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (122) ◽  
pp. 112-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Wright ◽  
Steven M. Hodge ◽  
Jerry A. Bradley ◽  
Thomas P. Grover ◽  
Robert W. Jacobel

AbstractA new short-pulse digital profiling radar system that operates at lower frequencies than most ice radars used in polar regions to date has been designed and built by the U.S. Geological Survey. The transmitter is an avalanche transistor pulser which drives a resistively loaded dipole transmitting antenna. A similar, but separate antenna is connected to the receiver. The receiver has adjustable sensitivity time control (STC) of as much as 60 dB to compensate for attenuation and geometric spreading factors. A fiber-optic cable is used to transmit both control signals and data. The data-acquisition and display system incorporates very high-speed digitizing and signal averaging, real-time profile display, and data storage on standard computer nine-track magnetic tape.The system was successfully used on Ice Stream B in West Antarctica at centre frequencies of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12.5 MHz. Bottom-return signal-to-noise ratios of more than 40 dB were obtained at 2 MHz through 800 m of ice. Convoluted internal surfaces not related to present bottom topography were resolved within the ice streams and anomalous strong reflections or “bright spots” were identified near the base of the ice. At present, there is no satisfactory glaciological explanation for either of these observations.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1548
Author(s):  
Jiuling Hu ◽  
Lianjin Hong ◽  
Lili Yin ◽  
Yu Lan ◽  
Hao Sun ◽  
...  

At present, high-speed underwater acoustic communication requires underwater transducers with the characteristics of low frequency and broadband. The low-frequency transducers also are expected to be low-frequency directional for realization of point-to-point communication. In order to achieve the above targets, this paper proposes a new type of flextensional transducer which is constructed of double mosaic piezoelectric ceramic rings and spherical cap metal shells. The transducer realizes broadband transmission by means of the coupling between radial vibration of the piezoelectric rings and high-order flexural vibration of the spherical cap metal shells. The low-frequency directional transmission of the transducer is realized by using excitation signals with different amplitude and phase on two mosaic piezoelectric rings. The relationship between transmitting voltage response (TVR), resonance frequency and structural parameters of the transducer is analyzed by finite element software COMSOL. The broadband performance of the transducer is also optimized. On this basis, the low-frequency directivity of the transducer is further analyzed and the ratio of the excitation signals of the two piezoelectric rings is obtained. Finally, a prototype of the broadband ring flextensional underwater transducer is fabricated according to the results of simulation. The electroacoustic performance of the transducer is tested in an anechoic water tank. Experimental results show that the maximum TVR of the transducer is 147.2 dB and the operation bandwidth is 1.5–4 kHz, which means that the transducer has good low-frequency, broadband transmission capability. Meanwhile, cardioid directivity is obtained at 1.4 kHz and low-frequency directivity is realized.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 790-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Flexas ◽  
G. J. F. van Heijst ◽  
R. R. Trieling

Abstract The Northern Current is a slope current in the northwest Mediterranean that shows high mesoscale variability, generally associated with meander and eddy formation. A barotropic laboratory model of this current is used here to study the role of the bottom topography on the current variability. For this purpose, a source–sink setup in a cylindrical tank placed on a rotating table is used to generate an axisymmetric barotropic current. To study inviscid topographic effects, experiments are performed over a topographic slope and also over a constant-depth setup, the latter being used as a reference for the former. With the aim of obtaining a fully comprehensive view of the vorticity balance at play, the flow may be forced in either azimuthal direction, leading to a “westward” prograde current (similar to the Northern Current) or an “eastward” retrograde current. For slow flows, eastward and westward currents showed similar patterns, dominated by Kelvin–Helmholtz-type instabilities. For high-speed flows, eastward and westward currents showed very different behavior. In eastward currents, the variability is observed to concentrate toward the center of the jet and shows strong meandering formation. Westward currents, instead, showed major variability toward the edges of the jet, together with a strong variability over the uppermost slope, which has been associated here with a topographic Rossby wave trapped over the shelf break. The differences between eastward and westward jets are explained through the balance between shear-induced and topographically induced vorticity at play in each case. Moreover, a model of jets over a beta plane is successfully applied here, allowing its extension to any ambient potential vorticity gradient caused either by latitudinal or bottom depth changes.


1943 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. A85-A92
Author(s):  
C. O. Dohrenwend ◽  
W. R. Mehaffey

Abstract The measurement of dynamic strains of both high and low frequency give rise to a variety of problems in instrumentation. Two types of equipment and circuits designed and used by the authors are discussed in detail. The first type based on the amplitude-modulated method is for low frequencies from zero to about 15 per cent of the carrier frequency of 1025 cycles per sec. The equipment has application to strain measurements varying from static values to those produced in moving vehicles, various machine parts, structures such as crane bridges, in fact all strain measurements where the frequency is 150 cycles per sec or less. The second type of equipment discussed is a potentiometer type and is for high-frequency strain measurements from 100 cycles per sec to 8000 cycles per sec. This high-speed equipment is conveniently used for impact strain, such as produced in hammer blows, shock loading, forging equipment, and impact-factor determination. Both units are designed to be used with a cathode-ray oscillograph which lends itself to a variety of recording methods. The methods discussed include both the type where the time axis is obtained by sweeping the oscilloscope beam on a stationary film and where the time axis is obtained mechanically.


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