Estimation of snow characteristics at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, Svalbard, based on the GNSS-IR method

• Main Authors: Grzymała, M., Prochniewicz, D., Luks, B.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Hornsund; Climate change; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017700

Information on snow depth and density is necessary for managing water supply in seasonal snow-covered regions. They are critical parameters in research topics such as hydrology and glaciology, especially concerning climate change. Unfortunately, regular observations of the snow cover in the High Arctic are challenging due to the high cost of manual measurements and it pointed character. The GNSS Interferometric Reflectometry (GNSS-IR) is a technique that allows the determination of many characteristics of the environment surrounding the measuring antenna. It is based on the frequency of the multipath-induced oscillations in the SNR parameters analysis, which vary depending on the surface cover. It makes the GNSS-IR method suitable in snow cover research, solving the issues of manual measurements since it is a mainly automated process with limited fieldwork and non-invasiveness. The contribution outlines the results, such as the snow depth of the surrounding area, obtained using GNSS-IR technique for Multi-GNSS observations, with its verification to the in-situ measurements. The observations from the GNSS-IR station installed as a realization of the Arctic Field Grant at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, Svalbard, recorded during the annual snow period, are used in the work. This measurement site is the only operating GNSS-IR station in this part of Spitsbergen and is to become a part of the CRIOS infrastructure.