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A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR FOR MORE EFFECTIVE REMEDIATION OF SUBSURFACE CONTAMINATION
Citation:
Douglas, D. G., A. A. Burns, C. L. Rino, J. W. Maresca, Jr., AND J. J. Yezzi. A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR FOR MORE EFFECTIVE REMEDIATION OF SUBSURFACE CONTAMINATION. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/SR-92/089, 1992.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
A study was conducted (1) to assess the capability of groundpenetrating radar (GPR) to identify natural subsurface features, detect man-made objects burled in the soil, and both detect and define the extent of contaminated soil or ground water due to a toxic spill, and (2) to determine the minimum performance specification (In terms of hardware, data collection, and signal processing) necessary for a GPR to achieve these goals. As a means of addressing both aspects of the study, several models were developed to quantify the response of different GPR systems to these subsurface environments. A number of conclusions emerged from this study. The technology for making all of the above measurements already exists, but the systems most commonly found in commercial use today either are not adequately designed to detect and define subsurface soil and ground-water contamination or are not operated in such a way as to make this possible. In terms of hardware, it was found that, to operate effectively in all three generic subsurface environments investigated in this study, a radar system must have a very high figure of merit. In terms of signal processing, it was found that for typical GPR systems synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) processing is required; this conclusion was based on three reasons: (1) better horizontal resolution is achieved with SAR processing; (2) SAR processing allows the system to operate at lower frequencies and thus achieve deeper penetration; and (3) SAR processing reduces ambient noise, which improves the detection and identification capabilities of GPR. It is recommended that simple proof-of-principle experiments be undertaken to validate the models developed in this study. To the extent that the experiments prove successful, GPR may become a significant tool in rapidly identifying and cost-effectively remediating subsurface contamination.