This thesis presents an analysis of the behavior of an equiangular spiral antenna using a mixture of numerical and measurement techniques. The antenna is studied as an isolated element and as a part of a spiral-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR) detection system. The numerical modeling was based on the parallelized finite-difference time-domain method and the model was validated by comparison with a prototype antenna and detection system. The intention is to isolate the effect of varying different geometrical parameters that define the spiral element or the spiral GPR system. With some notion of each parameter's effect, systems that use the spiral antenna can be designed more easily. The analysis of the spiral antenna in isolation provides a set of design graphs for the antenna. A set of design graphs are constructed that allow one to better understand the effect of the chosen dielectric substrate on the characteristic impedance of the antennas. A second set of design graphs give very specific data about the lower cut-off frequency possible for the antennas given a requirement on its minimum boresight gain, axial ratio, or voltage standing-wave ratio when matched with an appropriate transmission line. The analysis of the spiral antenna in the context of a detection system provides information on the effect of the ground on the GPR system and to what extent the circular polarization properties of the spiral antenna play a role in GPR. It is shown that a spiral antenna used in a monostatic radar configuration will reject a symmetric scatterer well into the near-field. The importance of a resistive loading to the spiral arms is demonstrated for this rejection to be optimal. In addition, it is shown that increasing the dielectric constant of the ground narrows the pattern and polarization properties, making the antenna more directive towards boresight when the spiral antennas radiate into a flat ground. In addition to this work, a method for reducing the truncation error when calculating the planewave spectrum of an antenna is described.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Portland State University, 2002. / Computer-produced typeface. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-123).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). Also available on the Internet.

Measuring the relative apparent dielectric permittivity of the subsurface is an easy and inexpensive way to indirectly obtain the volumetric water content. Many of the instruments that measure the dielectric, specifically borehole ground penetrating radar, rely on the travel time of an electromagnetic wave through a moist soil. Through inversion of the travel time, the water content can be calculated provided the path over which the wave travels is known exactly. In traditional interpretations of water content, the travel path of the electromagnetic wave is assumed to be direct from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna, irregardless of the propagation velocity structure. A new analysis is presented for the interpretation of first arrival travel time measurements from borehole ground penetrating radar during zero-offset profiling that considers critically refracted ray paths. By considering critical refraction at interfaces between contrasting propagation velocities, the travel path becomes dependent upon the velocity structure. Several infiltration experiments were performed to test whether critical refraction occurs in the subsurface. The infiltrating water will change the velocity structure of the subsurface in a predictable manner The interpretations of travel time were then compared to predictions made with an unsaturated flow model and supporting instrumentation. It was found that when critical refraction was not considered, the volumetric water content was underestimated by up to 30%. Correcting for critical refractions, therefore, becomes an important step in properly characterizing the subsurface. The new analysis presented herein may improve our ability to use direct measurements in water resource management practices to assess water availability in semi arid regions.

High latitude soils are estimated to store a considerable part of the global pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). Studies of global and regional SOC pools have estimated total inventories in northern Sweden’s subarctic region to fall within 10-50 kg m-2. However, correction factors for stone and boulder content of soils are often overlooked in SOC-studies and soil profiles are commonly normalized to a depth of 1 m, which can result in substantial overestimates of the SOC pool if a large part of the soil volume is occupied by stones/boulders or if the soil depth is shallower than 1 m. This study was performed to quantify SOC in soils of the Torneträsk catchment area using detailed measures of soil depth and stone/boulder contents. Two non-destructive sampling methods, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and rod penetration, were used to measure soil depth and stone and boulder content in the catchment area. Results show that average soil depth (n = 52344) varied between 0.95 – 2.14 m depending on elevation and the average mire depth was 0.63 m. Stone and boulder content of the soil was estimated to 49 – 68 % depending on elevation. The results were added to existing carbon and soil density data from the Torneträsk catchment area and total SOC inventories were calculated to 6.8 – 13.1 kg m-2. The results of this study indicate that previous studies on regional and global scale may have overestimated the SOC pools in the subarctic regions of northern Sweden.

This study presents a comprehensive overview of the current state of the Milne Ice Shelf and how it has changed over the last 59 years. The 205 ±1 km2 ice shelf experienced a 28% (82 ±0.8 km2) reduction in area between 1950 – 2009, and a 20% (2.5 ±0.9km3 water equivalent (w.e.)) reduction in volume between 1981 – 2008/2009, suggesting a long-term state of negative mass balance. Comparison of mean annual specific mass balances (up to -0.34 m w.e. yr-1) with surface mass balance measurements for the nearby Ward Hunt Ice Shelf suggest that basal melt is a key contributor to total ice shelf thinning. The development and expansion of new and existing surface cracks, as well as ice-marginal and epishelf lake development, indicate significant ice shelf weakening. Over the next few decades it is likely that the Milne Ice Shelf will continue to deteriorate.

This study presents the first comprehensive assessment of the Petersen Ice Shelf and the Petersen Bay epishelf lake, and examines their current characteristics and changes to their structure between 1959 and 2012. The surface of the Petersen Ice Shelf is characterized by a rolling topography of ridges and troughs, which is balanced by a rolling basal topography, with thicker ice under the surface ridges and thinner ice under the surface troughs. Based on thickness measurements collected in 2011 and area measurements from August 2012, the Petersen Ice Shelf has a surface area of 19.32 km2 and a mean thickness of 29 m, with the greatest thicknesses (>100 m) occurring at the fronts of tributary glaciers feeding into the ice shelf. The tributary glaciers along the northern coast of Petersen Bay contributed an estimated area-averaged 7.89 to 13.55 cm yr-1 of ice to the ice shelf between 2011 and 2012. This input is counteracted by a mean surface ablation of 1.30 m yr-1 between 2011 and 2012, suggesting strongly negative current mass balance conditions on the ice shelf. The Petersen Ice Shelf remained relatively stable until 2005 when the first break-up in recent history occurred, removing >8 km2 of ice shelf surface area. This break-up led to the drainage of the epishelf lake once the ice shelf separated from the southern coast, providing a conduit through which the freshwater from the lake escaped. More break-ups occurred in summers 2008, 2011 and 2012, which resulted in a >31.2 km2 loss in surface area (~63% of June 2005 area). While ephemeral regions of freshwater have occurred along the southern coast of Petersen Bay since 2005 (with areas ranging from 0.32-0.53 km2), open water events and a channel along the southern coast have prevented the epishelf lake from reforming. Based on these past and present observations it is unlikely that Petersen Ice Shelf will continue to persist long into the future.

The Wanganui-Wilberg landslide lies between Hokitika and Franz Josef townships, at the entrance of Harihari, on the true left bank of the Wanganui River, by State Highway 6. This apparently co-seismic landslide belongs to the class of events called rock avalanches - powerful destructive agents (Keefer, 1984) in the landscape. Other rock avalanches are numerous (Whitehouse, 1983), and widespread over the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and many appear to be co-seismic. De Mets et al. (1994) used the model NUVEL-1A to characterize the motion of the Alpine fault: 37 mm/year at an azimuth of 071° for the strike-slip and a dip-slip of 10 mm/year normal to the strike direction. Although linear when seen from the sky, the detailed morphology of the fault is more complex, called en échelon (Norris and Cooper, 1997). It exhibits metamorphosed schists (mylonite series) in its hanging wall (McCahon, 2007; Korup, 2004). Earthquakes on the Alpine fault have a recurrence time of c. 200-300 years and a probability of occurrence within 100 years of 88% (Rhoades and Van Dissen, 2002). Thought to have been triggered by the AD1220 event (determined by dendrochronology), the Wanganui-Wilberg rock avalanche deposit represents only 20% of its original volume, which was c. 33 million cubic metres. The deposit probably dammed the Wanganui River and, as a result, created a small and short-lived lake upstream. The next earthquake capable of triggering such events is likely to occur fairly soon (Yetton, 1998). Knowledge of historic catastrophic events such as the Wanganui-Wilberg rock avalanche is of crucial importance in the development of future hazard and management plans.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.