Upward-looking ground-penetrating radar for measuring wet-snow properties

Mitterer, Christoph; Heilig, Achim; Schweizer, Jürg; Eisen, Olaf

doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2011.06.003

Cited by 57 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Relevant traditional techniques include dielectric (Denoth, 1994) or "hand" tests (Fierz et al, 2009) of snow liquid water contents, lysimeter measurements of discharge, temperature and pH and electrical conductivity of bulk meltwaters (Campbell et al, 2006;Williams et al, 2010) and manual observation or measurement of snow density and grain size (Fierz et al, 2009). Even cutting-edge upward-looking radar measurements of snowpack structure and liquid water content (Heilig et al, 2010;Mitterer et al, 2011;Schmid et al, 2014) compare unfavourably with model predictions of wetting front propagation (Wever et al, 2014), attributed to inherent limitations of the 1-D approach in capturing preferential flow.…”

Section: S S Thompson Et Al: Bulk Meltwater Flow and Liquid Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Snow, and runoff from snow, are also major resources for the hydroelectric, tourism and inland fishery industries, and furthermore represent hazards from flooding and avalanches (Mitterer et al, 2011). The availability of snow models constrained by a reliable observational basis, for the forecasting of snow hydrological properties and processes in climate, resource and hazard applications is therefore of considerable socio-economic significance (Wever et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bulk meltwater flow and liquid water content of snowpacks mapped using the electrical self-potential (SP) method

Thompson¹,

Kulessa

Essery

et al. 2016

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. Our ability to measure, quantify and assimilate hydrological properties and processes of snow in operational models is disproportionally poor compared to the significance of seasonal snowmelt as a global water resource and major risk factor in flood and avalanche forecasting. We show here that strong electrical self-potential fields are generated in melting in situ snowpacks at Rhone Glacier and Jungfraujoch Glacier, Switzerland. In agreement with theory, the diurnal evolution of self-potential magnitudes ( ∼ 60-250 mV) relates to those of bulk meltwater fluxes (0-1.2 × 10 −6 m 3 s −1 ) principally through the permeability and the content, electrical conductivity and pH of liquid water. Previous work revealed that when fresh snow melts, ions are eluted in sequence and electrical conductivity, pH and self-potential data change diagnostically. Our snowpacks had experienced earlier stages of melt, and complementary snow pit measurements revealed that electrical conductivity (∼ 1-5 × 10 −6 S m −1 ) and pH (∼ 6.5-6.7) as well as permeabilities (respectively ∼ 9.7 × 10 −5 and ∼ 4.3 × 10 −5 m 2 at Rhone Glacier and Jungfraujoch Glacier) were invariant. This implies, first, that preferential elution of ions was complete and, second, that our self-potential measurements reflect daily changes in liquid water contents. These were calculated to increase within the pendular regime from ∼ 1 to 5 and ∼ 3 to 5.5 % respectively at Rhone Glacier and Jungfraujoch Glacier, as confirmed by ground truth measurements. We conclude that the electrical self-potential method is a promising snow and firn hydrology sensor owing to its suitability for (1) sensing lateral and vertical liquid water flows directly and minimally invasively, (2) complementing established observational programs through multidimensional spatial mapping of meltwater fluxes or liquid water content and (3) monitoring autonomously at a low cost. Future work should focus on the development of self-potential sensor arrays compatible with existing weather and snow monitoring technology and observational programs, and the integration of self-potential data into analytical frameworks.

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Section: S S Thompson Et Al: Bulk Meltwater Flow and Liquid Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bulk meltwater flow and liquid water content of snowpacks mapped using the electrical self-potential (SP) method

Thompson¹,

Kulessa

Essery

et al. 2016

The Cryosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While many applications of TR are described in the current literature, these are mainly aimed at determining qualitative snow cover properties (snow water equivalent, grain sizes or snow layering), rather than snow depth on a regional scale (e.g. Sundström et al, 2012;Previatia et al, 2011;Mitterer et al, 2011;Heilig et al, 2008). 11.07.2016…”

Section:  Terrestrial Techniques For Determining Hs Include Terrestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Potential of Low-Cost Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems for Monitoring the Alpine Snow Cover

Mayer¹,

Adams²

2016

Investigating the Potential of Low-Cost Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems for Monitoring the Alpine Snow Cover (RPAS4SNOW)

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“…The spatial variability in snow depth and the temporal evolution in snowpack stratigraphy have been analyzed utilizing GPR technology as well (e.g. Machguth et al, 2006;Heilig et al, 2009;Mitterer et al, 2011).…”

Section: Ground Penetrating Radarmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lidar snow cover studies on glaciers in the Ötztal Alps (Austria): comparison with snow depths calculated from GPR measurements

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The storage of water within the seasonal snow cover is a substantial source of runoff in high mountain catchments. Information about the spatial distribution of snow accumulation is necessary for calibration and validation of hydro-meteorological models. Generally, only a small number of precipitation measurements deliver precipitation input for modelling in mountain areas. The spatial interpolation and extrapolation of measurements of precipitation is still difficult. Multi-temporal application of lidar techniques from aircraft, so-called airborne laser scanning (ALS), provides surface elevations changes even in inaccessible terrain. These ALS surface elevation changes can be used to derive changes in snow depths of the mountain snow cover for seasonal or subseasonal time periods. However, since glacier surfaces are not static over time, ablation, densification of snow, densification of firn and ice flow contribute to surface elevation changes. ALS-derived surface elevation changes were compared to snow depths derived from 35.4 km of ground penetrating radar (GPR) profiles on four glaciers. With this combination of two different data acquisitions, it is possible to evaluate the effect of the summation of these processes on ALS-derived snow depth maps in the high alpine region of the Ötztal Alps (Austria). A Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper image was used to distinguish between snow covered area and bare ice areas of the glaciers at the end of the ablation season. In typical accumulation areas, ALS surface elevation changes differ from snow depths calculated from GPR measurements by −0.4 m on average with a mean standard deviation of 0.34 m. Differences between ALS surface elevation changes and GPR derived snow depths are small along the profiles conducted in areas of bare ice. In these areas, the mean absolute difference of ALS surface elevation changes and GPR snow depths is 0.004 m with a standard deviation of 0.27 m. This study presents a systematic approach to analyze deviations from ALS generated snow depth maps to ground truth measurements on four different glaciers. We could show that ALS can be an important and reliable data source for the spatial distribution of snow depths for most parts of the here investigated glaciers. However, within accumulation areas, just utilizing ALS data may lead to systematic underestimation of total snow depth distribution.

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Upward-looking ground-penetrating radar for measuring wet-snow properties

Cited by 57 publications

References 43 publications

Bulk meltwater flow and liquid water content of snowpacks mapped using the electrical self-potential (SP) method

Bulk meltwater flow and liquid water content of snowpacks mapped using the electrical self-potential (SP) method

Investigating the Potential of Low-Cost Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems for Monitoring the Alpine Snow Cover

Lidar snow cover studies on glaciers in the Ötztal Alps (Austria): comparison with snow depths calculated from GPR measurements

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