The objective was to significantly expand the practical operating window for oil detection with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to cover a wider range of sea ice and climate conditions. This project was a direct continuation of TAR projects 348, 517, 547, 569, and 588. Funding partners for this project were: Alaska Clean Seas, BSEE, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Upstream Research, Shell International E&P, and StatoilHydro.
This research project envisioned carrying the GPR development program to the next level, to reducing the operating limitations of existing systems in the oil/ice remote sensing role, by building and testing (over fresh water ice) two new GPR's that incorporated a number of major technological improvements over currently available systems. The focus was on hardware development by producing two prototype, higher-powered radar systems that could be tested in Arctic field environments using commonly available light helicopters (AS350 or equivalent).
The contract was completed on January 10, 2012 and the final report posted below.