Continental-scale changes in Earth’s ice sheets are predominantly monitored with spaceborne instruments which are best-suited to measure surface processes. Conversely, a thorough understanding of the subsurface requires intensive ground-based campaigns which are inherently limited to the local scale. Here, I discuss work from two of our studies in West Antarctica to demonstrate the utility of radio-echo sounding as a tool which bridges ice-sheet interpretations from the local to the regional scale. Bed echoes from an ice stream highlight the complexity of basal ice and how it interacts with the substrate material. Internal echoes from an ice divide preserve historic ice dynamics during deglaciation. Considering how these processes manifest differently between radar systems will enable upscaling for continental-scale interpretations of ice dynamics.

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