New approaches and error assessment to snow cover thickness and density using air temperature data at different heights

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: García-Maroto, Diego, Durán, Luis, Hernández, Miguel Ángel de Pablo
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909156584194048
author García-Maroto, Diego
Durán, Luis
Hernández, Miguel Ángel de Pablo
author_facet García-Maroto, Diego
Durán, Luis
Hernández, Miguel Ángel de Pablo
contents Snow poles are inexpensive systems composed of a wooden mast with temperature sensors affixed at varying heights with the purpose of estimating the snow depth. They are frequently utilised in cold, remote regions where the maintenance of complex monitoring instruments becomes impractical. In this study, snow cover thickness is determined using different methods, based on the thermal behaviour of air temperature measured by a snow pole on Deception Island, Antarctica. The methods are compared to high-resolution measurements of snow depth obtained using an ultrasonic sensor at the same site. A new modified method is proposed and shown to give the best results. Errors and sensitivity to chosen thresholds of the various methods have been compared. Sensitivity tests have been also conducted to evaluate the impact of missing data from some of the sensors. Finally, the insulating effect on the thermal signal produced by the snow is used to obtain information on the snowpack density. Promising results have been found from this effort, opening new possibilities for the usage of snow poles and may lead to future studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_02927
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle New approaches and error assessment to snow cover thickness and density using air temperature data at different heights
García-Maroto, Diego
Durán, Luis
Hernández, Miguel Ángel de Pablo
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Snow poles are inexpensive systems composed of a wooden mast with temperature sensors affixed at varying heights with the purpose of estimating the snow depth. They are frequently utilised in cold, remote regions where the maintenance of complex monitoring instruments becomes impractical. In this study, snow cover thickness is determined using different methods, based on the thermal behaviour of air temperature measured by a snow pole on Deception Island, Antarctica. The methods are compared to high-resolution measurements of snow depth obtained using an ultrasonic sensor at the same site. A new modified method is proposed and shown to give the best results. Errors and sensitivity to chosen thresholds of the various methods have been compared. Sensitivity tests have been also conducted to evaluate the impact of missing data from some of the sensors. Finally, the insulating effect on the thermal signal produced by the snow is used to obtain information on the snowpack density. Promising results have been found from this effort, opening new possibilities for the usage of snow poles and may lead to future studies.
title New approaches and error assessment to snow cover thickness and density using air temperature data at different heights
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.02927