The AWI operates RES-systems both airborne and grounded either on a Dornier Do228-101 aircraft or towed by a snow vehicle (Skidoo or Pistenbullys) or even by hand. These systems are used to investigate various scientific objectives ranging from mass balance studies, pre site surveys for ice core drillings or shallow lake drillings to studies of the physical properties of ice and the internal structure of ice bodies. Due to this variety of objectives the areas of interest where these systems are used vary from the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica to permafrost areas in Siberia and local glaciers in the Alps.