UV AND OPTICAL LIGHT TRANSMISSION PROPERTIES IN DEEP ICE AT THE SOUTH-POLE

Both absorption and scattering of light at wavelengths 410 to 610 nano meters were measured in tile South Pole ice at depths 0.8 to 1 kilomet er with the laser calibration system of the Antarctic Muon And Neutrin o Detector Array (AMANDA). At the shortest wavelengths the absorption lengths exceeded 200 meters-an order of magnitude longer than has been reported for laboratory ice. The absorption shows a strong wavelength dependence while the scattering length is found to be independent of the wavelength, consistent with the hypothesis of a residual density o f air bubbles in the ice. The observed linear decrease of the inverse scattering length with depth is compatible with an earlier measurement by the AMANDA collaboration (at similar to 515 nanometers).