ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Solid Earth Geophysics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1632441
This article is part of the Research TopicGeophysical Electromagnetic Exploration Theory, Technology and ApplicationView all 6 articles
The magnetic permeability signature in high-frequency electromagnetic data modeling: A case study for GPR approximation
Provisionally accepted
- Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), Ensenada, Mexico
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Ground penetrating Radar (GPR) is a high-frequency geophysical prospecting method whose signal is affected by dielectric permittivity (ε), electrical conductivity (σ) and magnetic permeability (µ), but it is common practice to assume that magnetic permeability has a negligible influence on electromagnetic (EM) fields in geophysical applications. In this paper, we analyze the distinctive effect of magnetic permeability on the radar signal. To evaluate the transit of an electromagnetic wave, we developed a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm that accounts for ε-, µ-, and σ-heterogeneities. Using a hypothetical coupled-layer model and an archaeological test example, we demonstrate the importance of considering magnetic permeability in numerical EM modeling, concluding that magnetic permeability is as relevant as the other property variations and also is the only property that simultaneously affects the velocity and attenuation of the electromagnetic wave and produces a unique energy partition unpredicted by any combination of the other two EM properties.
Keywords: archaeological example, Electromagnetic properties, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), magnetic permeability, GPR modeling
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 SÁNCHEZ and Gallardo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: ALEJANDRA I SÁNCHEZ, Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), Ensenada, Mexico
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