We developed a high-performance, multi-channel, ultra-wideband radar system for measurements of the base and interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. We designed the radar to be high-power (4,000 W peak) yet portable and operate with 60-MHz bandwidth at a center frequency of 200 MHz, providing high sensitivity and fine vertical resolution relative to current technology. We used the radar to perform extensive measurements as a part of a multinational collaboration. We collected data onboard a tracked vehicle outfitted with an array of high-gain antennas. We sounded 2-km to 3-km thick ice near Dome Fuji. Preliminary ice thickness data match those obtained via semicoincident measurements performed with a different surfacebased pulse-modulated radar system operated during the same field campaign, as well as previous airborne measurements. In addition, we mapped internal reflection horizons with fine vertical resolution from 300 m below the ice surface to ~100 m above the bed. In this paper, we provide a detailed overview of the radar instrument design, implementation, and field measurement setup. We present sample data to illustrate its capabilities; and discuss how the data collected with it will be valuable for the assessment of promising drilling sites to recover ice cores 0.9 to 1.5 million years old. Index Terms-Oldest ice core, UWB radar sounding. I. INTRODUCTION eep ice cores from the Antarctic Ice Sheet provide a detailed record of climate state changes, volcanic and solar activity, as well as atmospheric composition dating back 800,000 years (800 ka) [1-2]. Unsolved scientific questions related to the role of atmospheric greenhouse gases on the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) [3], which appears to have occurred between ~900 ka and 1.2 Ma, have prompted the international scientific community in a quest for suitable drilling locations to recover samples of the Oldest Ice that will
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