Radioglaciology is the study of glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps and icy moons using ice penetrating radar. It employs a geophysical method similar to ground-penetrating radar and typically operates at frequencies in the MF, HF, VHF and UHF portions of the radio spectrum. This technique is also commonly referred to as "Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR)" or "Radio Echo Sounding (RES)".

Glaciers are particularly well suited to investigation by radar because the conductivity, imaginary part of the permittivity, and the dielectric absorption of ice are small at radio frequencies resulting in low loss tangent, skin depth, and attenuation values. This allows echoes from the base of the ice sheet to be detected through ice thicknesses greater than 4 km. The subsurface observation of ice masses using radio waves has been an integral and evolving geophysical technique in glaciology for over half a century. Its most widespread uses have been the measurement of ice thickness, subglacial topography, and ice sheet stratigraphy. It has also been used to observe the subglacial and conditions of ice sheets and glaciers, including hydrology, thermal state, accumulation, flow history, ice fabric, and bed geology. In planetary science, ice penetrating radar has also been used to explore the subsurface of the Polar Ice Caps on Mars and comets. Missions are planned to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.