First Airborne Transient EM Survey in Antarctica: Mapping of Saline Ground Water System

A first airborne transient electromagnetic survey was flown in Antarctica in December 2011 with the SkyTEM system. This transient airborne EM system has been optimized in Denmark for almost ten years and was specially designed for ground water mapping. The SkyTEM tool is ideal for mapping conductive targets, and the transient AEM method provides a better understanding of the saline ground water system for microbiology, paleoclimate studies, or geothermal potential. In this study we present preliminary results from our field survey which resulted in more than 1000 km of flight lines. The spatial sampling was 20 m along the lines providing more than 30 000 sounding locations. To handle this large amount of data, the software Aarhus Workbench was developed to make spatially constrained inversions which provide a quasi-3D view of the underground. The inversion results of the Fryxell Basin are presented here, the Taylor Valley demonstrating the promising capabilities of the geophysical method to map permafrost and the saline ground water systems.