%A ZhiChun Zhang, YuPeng Shen, Xiao Wang, YaHu Tian, JianKun Liu, Bagdat Teltayev %T Using attributes of electromagnetic waves to determine the water content and frost table in a permafrost area %0 Journal Article %D 2017 %J Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions %R 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2017.00261 %P 261-266 %V 9 %N 3 %U {http://www.scar.ac.cn/CN/abstract/article_87.shtml} %8 2017-06-01 %X The thawing-melting of the permafrost damages the subground of highways on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. With the application of ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) technology, the maximum permafrost melting interface can be effectively distinctly differentiated and imaged. A hierarchical feature of the permafrost region is shown clearly on the imaging profile of GPR data. The complete ablation zone or part of it is displayed distinctly. In addition, the details of subsurface layers can be effectively characterized by GPR attribute-analysis technology. With the attribute calculation and filter, the instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous frequency, and relative wave impedance can be applied in a more efficient way to divide the complete ablation zone, part of the ablation and non-ablation interface. The relative distribution of water content in a seasonally thawing permafrost region can be obtained through a comprehensive GPR attribute analysis.