Capacitively Coupled Resistivity measurements to determine frequency-dependent electrical parameters in periglacial environment-theoretical considerations and first field tests

Capacitively Coupled Resistivity (CCR) is conventionally used to emulate DC resistivity measurements and may provide important information about the ice content of material in periglacial areas. The application of CCR theoretically enables the determination of both electrical parameters, that is, the resistivity and the electrical permittivity, by analysing magnitude and phase shift spectra. The electrical permittivity may dominate the impedance, especially in periglacial areas or regions of hydrogeological interest. However, previous theoretical work suggested that the phase shift may strongly depend on electrode height above ground, implying that electrode height must be known with great accuracy to determine electrical permittivity. Here, we demonstrate with laboratory test measurements, theoretical modelling and by analysing the Jacobian matrix of the inversion that the sensitivity towards electrode height is drastically reduced if the electrical permittivity is frequency dependent in a way that is typical for ice. For the first time, we used a novel broad-band CCR device 'Chameleon' for a field test located in one of the ridge galleries beneath the crest of Mount Zugspitze. A permanently ice covered bottom of a tunnel was examined. For the inversion of the measured spectra, the frequency dependence of the electrical parameters was parametrized in three different ways: A Debye Model for pure ices, a Cole-Cole Model for pure ices and a dual Cole-Cole Model including interfacial water additionally. The frequency-dependent resistivity and permittivity spectra obtained from the inversion, including low- and high-frequency limits, agree reasonably well with laboratory and field measurements reported in the literature.