The Application of GPR in Florida for Detecting Forensic Burials

A study was performed at the University of Florida to measure ground penetrating radar(GPR) performance for detecting forensic burials. In controlled scenarios, 24 burials were constructed with pig cadavers. Two soils were utilized to represent two of the most common soil orders in Florida: an Entisol and an Ultisol. Graves were monitored on a monthly basis for time periods up to 21 months with grid data acquired with pulsed and swept-frequency GPR systems incorporating several different frequency antennas. A small subset of the graves was excavated to assess decomposition and relate to the GPR images during the test. The grave anomalies in the GPR depth profiles became less distinctive over time due to body decomposition and settling of the disturbed soil (backfill) as it compacted. Soil type was a major factor. Grave anomalies became more difficult to recognize over time for deep targets that were within clay. Forensic targets that were in sandy soil were recognized for the duration of this study. Time elapsed imagery will be presented to elucidate the changes, or lack thereof, of grave anomalies over the duration of this study. Further analysis was performed using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) reconstruction of images in 2-D and 3-D