An in situ measurement of the radio-frequency attenuation in ice at Summit Station, Greenland

Abstract

We report an in situ measurement of the electric field attenuation length at radio frequencies for the bulk ice at Summit Station, Greenland, made by broadcasting radio-frequency signals vertically through the ice and measuring the relative power in the return ground bounce signal. We find the depth-averaged field attenuation length to be 947 +92/-85 meters at 75 MHz. While this measurement has clear radioglaciological applications, the radio clarity of the ice also has implications for the detection of ultra-high energy (UHE) astrophysical particles via their radio emission in dielectric media such as ice. Assuming a reliable extrapolation to higher frequencies, the measured attenuation length at Summit Station is comparable to previously measured radio-frequency attenuation lengths at candidate particle detector sites around the world, and strengthens the case for Summit Station as a promising northern site for UHE neutrino detection.

7 pages, 7 figures, published in Journal of Glaciology

References in corpus (4)

• The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna Ultra-high Energy Neutrino Detector Design, Performance, and Sensitivity for 2006-2007 Balloon Flight
• Observations of the Askaryan Effect in Ice
• In situ radioglaciological measurements near Taylor Dome, Antarctica and implications for UHE neutrino astronomy
• ARIANNA: A radio detector array for cosmic neutrinos on the Ross Ice Shelf

Cited by in corpus (22)

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• Observation of classically `forbidden' electromagnetic wave propagation and implications for neutrino detection
• The signatures of secondary leptons in radio-neutrino detectors in ice
• Observation of Radar Echoes From High-Energy Particle Cascades
• Reconstructing the neutrino energy for in-ice radio detectors
• Reconstructing the arrival direction of neutrinos in deep in-ice radio detectors
• Reconstructing the cosmic-ray energy from the radio signal measured in one single station
• In situ, broadband measurement of the radio frequency attenuation length at Summit Station, Greenland
• Development Toward a Ground-Based Interferometric Phased Array for Radio Detection of High Energy Neutrinos
• Radiowave Detection of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays
• Impact of biaxial birefringence in polar ice at radio frequencies on signal polarizations in ultra-high energy neutrino detection
• Reconstructing non-repeating radio pulses with Information Field Theory
• Improving sensitivity of the ARIANNA detector by rejecting thermal noise with deep learning
• Broadband RF Phased Array Design with MEEP: Comparisons to Array Theory in Two and Three Dimensions
• Simulation of radio signals from cosmic-ray cascades in air and ice as observed by in-ice Askaryan radio detectors
• Complex Analysis of Askaryan Radiation: A Fully Analytic Model in the Time-Domain
• Complex Analysis of Askaryan Radiation: UHE-$\nu$ Identification and Reconstruction using the Hilbert Envelope of Observed Signals
• Validation of straight-line signal propagation for radio signal of very inclined cosmic ray air showers
• Event Reconstruction for Radio-Based In-Ice Neutrino Detectors with Neural Posterior Estimation
• Characteristics of Cherenkov Radiation in Naturally Occuring Ice