As a facility, RAID is principally concerned with the drilling platform itself, but the targeting of drilling sites and subsequent access to the boreholes for down-hole observation are an important part of achieving the interdisciplinary goals established for RAID. The acquisition of airborne and over-snow geophysical imaging (ice-penetrating radar, aeromagnetics, and aerogravity) is critical for reconnaissance mapping of potential targets of old ice and subglacial geology. Reconnaissance geophysical mapping will therefore provide critical input for sensible site selection for RAID drilling, as well as for site safety surveys to determine subglacial conditions of ice thickness, basal layer composition, and presence of water. As a working science platform, use of RAID will be done in close cooperation with the geophysical community. Borehole logging, both in reconnaissance fashion at the time of drilling and for detailed, high-resolution records after drilling is complete, is a key part of making RAID boreholes available as a research observatory. Borehole data acquisition may include optical logging of ice stratigraphy, ice crystallographic anisotropy, borehole deformation, temperature profiles, basal heat flow, and bedrock orientation and in-situ stress.
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