Pulsed plasma discharge effects on efficiency and rate of penetration of melt probes in ice

Current melt probe designs increase their rate of penetration by shooting hot water jets towards the ice surface in addition to passively melting surrounding ice. In this paper pulsed plasma discharges taking place at the nose of the melt probe were investigated as a low power, less mechanically complex, alternative to water jetting systems. A prototype plasma melt probe was constructed and tested on solid ice in a low temperature, −17 °C, laboratory environment. The rate of penetration was determined for both passive heating and heating coupled with plasma discharges at 4.5 cm/h and 11 cm/h respectively. The 140% increase in the penetration rate occurred with a