RF electrical properties of salty ice and frozen Earth

RF losses at 100 Mc/s in artificial samples of salty ice and frozen, fresh-water-saturated earths were measured in the laboratory, and pronounced attenuation of radio waves within distances of a few meters are predicted as a general rule. Salty ice dielectric constants averaged 3.5, and resistivities ‘across the grain’ varied from about 55 ohm-meters at −10°C to about 1200 ohm meters at −40°C for ice containing about 5% of salts. These results may or may not apply to natural sea ice and permafrost.