Cold Regions Researchers Measure Ice Thickness with Rainbow

22 Jan 2007 -- HANOVER, N.H. -- Two researchers with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) were recently awarded a U.S. patent for a method for optically measuring the thickness of an ice sheet.

Drs. Norbert E. Yankielun, a research electronic engineer, and Charles C. Ryerson, a research physical scientist, received U.S. Patent #7,158,240, Measurement Device and Method.

"We are using specific wave lengths within the visible spectrum of light to geometrically measure ice thickness," Yankielun said.

"This system allows the measurement of the thickness of an ice layer or other transparent medium," Ryerson said. "A real-world application of this system would be, for example, detecting and measuring ice accumulation on an aircraft wing."

This new technology was featured in Elsevier's Journal of Cold Regions Science and Technology, December 2006 issue.

Yankielun is the sole inventor or co-inventor of 28 patents with numerous others in process. Yankielun's patents involve the application of electronics and electromagnetics to solve geophysical and environmental instrumentation, monitoring and measurement problems, especially related to military and civil cold regions challenges.

Ryerson's research has involved military aircraft anti-icing and deicing programs. He previously served as the Chair, Society of Automotive Engineers AC-9C Aircraft Icing Technology Subcommittee and currently holds two co-patents.

Yankielun and Ryerson are residents of Lebanon and Hanover, N.H., respectively. CRREL is one of the seven laboratories that make up the ERDC. The ERDC is the premier research and development facility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with more than 2,000 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual research program of $700 million. It conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas for the Department of Defense and the nation.

The ERDC is also one of numerous federal agencies supporting research in the Arctic and Antarctic as part of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. The International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization formally established the 2007-2008 Polar Year to fall on the 125th anniversary of the first polar year and the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy identified the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the lead federal agency for coordinating U.S. IPY activities. For more information about federal IPY efforts, please go to www.us-ipy.gov.