Radio-glaciological parameters from Moore ’ s Bay , in the Ross Ice Shelf , have been measured .
The thickness of the ice shelf in Moore ’ s Bay was measured from reflection times of radio-frequency pulses propagating vertically through the shelf and reflecting from the ocean , and is found to be 576 \pm 8 m. Introducing a baseline of 543 \pm 7 m between radio transmitter and receiver allowed the computation of the basal reflection coefficient , R , separately from englacial loss .
The depth-averaged attenuation length of the ice column , \langle L \rangle is shown to depend linearly on frequency .
The best fit ( 95 % confidence level ) is \langle L ( \nu ) \rangle = ( 460 \pm 20 ) - ( 180 \pm 40 ) \nu m ( 20 dB/km ) , for the frequencies \nu = [ 0.100-0.850 ] GHz , assuming no reflection loss .
The mean electric-field reflection coefficient is \sqrt { R } = 0.82 \pm 0.07 ( -1.7 dB reflection loss ) across [ 0.100-0.850 ] GHz , and is used to correct the attenuation length .
Finally , the reflected power rotated into the orthogonal antenna polarization is less than 5 % below 0.400 GHz , compatible with air propagation .
The results imply that Moore ’ s Bay serves as an appropriate medium for the ARIANNA high energy neutrino detector .