Application of Georadar for snow cover surveying

Abstract

A commercial georadar was tested over in a Norwegian catchment in order to determine the areal mean snow water equivalent (SWE) and its spatial distribution. The methodology used and the results obtained are described. The radar was run along a number of selected snow courses, and the results were compared with manual measurements of snow depth and density. It was found that georadar is able to give accurate estimates of mean SWE with much less time spent in the field compared to conventional measurements. Georadar also gave a good description of the areal distribution of SWE.