Subglacial Lake Ellsworth seismic reflection profiles, raw seismic and GPS survey data, 2007/2008

Five seismic reflection profiles (Lake A to E) were acquired across Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE), Antarctica, during the 2007-08 austral summer. SLE is a freshwater lake that lies under ice that is ~3.2 km thick. SLE is approximately 15 km long and 3 km wide. The data were acquired to determine the overlying ice thickness, the water depth in the lake, and the lake-bed material. The seismic lines were aligned perpendicular to the lake's long axis and spaced roughly 1.4 km apart, over what appears to be the deeper part of the lake. Seismic shot-point locations were determined using RTK GPS methods. Seismic sources were Pentolite explosives in 30 m deep holes made with a hot-water drill and backfilled with snow. The fieldwork was a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Northumbria University and the University of Edinburgh.

Funding was provided by NERC AFI awards NE/D009200/1, NE/D008638/1 and NE/D008751/1. Equipment support by NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility loan numbers 838 and 870.

Date (Creation): 2025-10-10

Date (Revision): 2025-10-10

Date (Publication): 2025-10-10

Date (released): 2025-10-10

Edition: 1.0

Unique resource identifier: https://doi.org/10.5285/f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a

Codespace: doi

Unique resource identifier: GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02091

Codespace: https://data.bas.ac.uk/

Unique resource identifier: NE/D009200/1

Codespace: award

Unique resource identifier: NE/D008638/1

Codespace: award

Unique resource identifier: NE/D008751/1

Codespace: award

Other citation details: Please cite this item as: Smith, A., Brisbourne, A., Woodward, J., Ross, N., & Siegert, M. (2025). Subglacial Lake Ellsworth seismic reflection profiles, raw seismic and GPS survey data, 2007/2008 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a

Credit: No credit.

Status: Completed

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey	Smith, Andrew		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Brisbourne, Alex		Author
Northumbria University	Woodward, John		Author
Newcastle University	Ross, Neil		Author
University of Exeter	Siegert, Martin		Author
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		PDCServiceDesk@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency: As needed

Maintenance note: Completed

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords

Theme

West Antarctic Ice Sheet
bathymetry
seismology
subglacial lake

Place

Subglacial Lake Ellsworth Antarctica

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: no limitations to public access

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: no limitations

Use constraints: License

Other constraints: Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: No restrictions apply.

Unique resource identifier: url

Codespace: url

Association Type: Cross reference

Unique resource identifier: url

Codespace: url

Association Type: Larger work citation

Unique resource identifier: url

Codespace: url

Association Type: Larger work citation

Unique resource identifier: url

Codespace: url

Association Type: Larger work citation

Unique resource identifier: url

Codespace: url

Association Type: Larger work citation

Unique resource identifier: doi

Codespace: doi

Association Type: Cross reference

Unique resource identifier: doi

Codespace: doi

Association Type: Cross reference

Unique resource identifier: doi

Codespace: doi

Association Type: Cross reference

Spatial representation type: Text, table

Language: English

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Elevation
Inland waters

Begin date: 2007-12-02

End date: 2008-01-31

Vertical extent

Minimum value: 1900.0

Maximum value: 1920.0

Vertical CS

No information provided.

Vertical datum

No information provided.

Supplemental Information: It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.

Title: European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Geodetic Parameter Registry

Date (Publication): 2008-11-12

Cited responsible party

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
European Petroleum Survey Group		EPSGadministrator@iogp.org	Publisher

Unique resource identifier: urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031

Version: 6.18.3

Distributor

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		PDCServiceDesk@bas.ac.uk	Distributor

Distributor format

Name	Version
text/plain
text/csv

Units of distribution: bytes

Transfer size: 323800269

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link	http://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show?entryid=f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a	Get Data

Units of distribution: bytes

Transfer size: 323800269

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link	http://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show?entryid=f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a	Get Data

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Statement: Methodology:

Shot-point location was determined using RTK GPS methods. Receivers used were Leica 530. One receiver operated as a base station, located in the middle of each survey area. The other receiver was operated as a real-time rover.

Seismic source for each shot was 450 g of Pentolite explosive buried at 30 m depth in holes made by a hot-water drill.

Data acquisition used a spread of 48 geophones (40 Hz natural frequency) spaced at 10 m intervals with an offset from shot to first geophone of 30 m. Shot-spacing and move-up per shot was 240 m, giving single fold coverage.

Line length varied between 33 and 12 shots.

The data provided comprise sorted raw shot gathers. Raw field data for each line were sorted into sequential traces and written to a single SEG-Y file.

The metadata provided contain the GPS-derived position of each shot point (latitude (decimal degrees), longitude (decimal degrees), elevation (m relative to WGS-84 ellipsoid).

Seismic data were processed with Halliburton-Landmark ProMAX software under academic license to BAS.

Horizontal and vertical position of each shot point is given. These were determined using dual-frequency GPS surveying with a precision of approximately 10 cm.

Vertical precision is given by the sample interval of 0.2 ms. Note this is given in time, not depth; no depth conversion has been applied.

Data collection:

Seismic data were acquired using OYO 40 Hz single geophones and Geometrics GEODE 48-channel seismic data logger recording in SEG-2 format.

Data were logged at 4 kHz; record length was 4 s.

Data processing (sorting and writing to SEG-Y format) done using ProMax seismic processing software.

Data quality:

SEG-Y data include relative geometry in the headers with a shot point interval of 240 m and a receiver interval of 10 m. Only shot locations were surveyed to provide accurate location and elevation. Receiver locations must be determined by interpolation and extrapolation using the shot point profiles.

Metadata

File identifier: f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Hierarchy level name: dataset

Date stamp: 2025-10-10

Metadata standard name: ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata

Metadata standard version: ISO 19115:2003(E)

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact

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