Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica
Although both the temporal and spatial variations of the snow depth are usually of interest for numerous applications, available measurement techniques are either space-oriented (e.g. terrestrial laser scans) or time-oriented (e.g. ultrasonic ranging probe). Because of snow heterogeneity, measuring...
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:114872 2023-05-15T13:49:03+02:00 Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica Picard, G Arnaud, L Panel, J-M Morin, S 2016 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872 en eng Copernicus GmbH http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872/1/Picard et al 2016b.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 Picard, G and Arnaud, L and Panel, J-M and Morin, S, Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica, Cryosphere, 10, (4) pp. 1495-1511. ISSN 1994-0416 (2016) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872 Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Palaeoclimatology Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 2019-12-13T22:14:43Z Although both the temporal and spatial variations of the snow depth are usually of interest for numerous applications, available measurement techniques are either space-oriented (e.g. terrestrial laser scans) or time-oriented (e.g. ultrasonic ranging probe). Because of snow heterogeneity, measuring depth in a single point is insufficient to provide accurate and representative estimates. We present a cost-effective automatic instrument to acquire spatio-temporal variations of snow depth. The device comprises a laser meter mounted on a 2-axis stage and can scan ≈ 200 000 points over an area of 100200 m 2 in 4 h. Two instruments, installed in Antarctica (DomeC) and the French Alps (Colde Porte), have been operating continuously and unattended over 2015 with a success rate of 65 and 90 % respectively. The precision of single point measurements and long-term stability were evaluated to be about 1 cm and the accuracy to be 5 cm or better. The spatial variability in the scanned area reached 710 cm (root mean square) at both sites, which means that the number of measurements is sufficient to average out the spatial variability and yield precise mean snow depth. With such high precision, it was possible for the first time at DomeC to(1)observe a 3-month period of regular and slow increase of snow depth without apparent link to snowfalls and (2)highlight that most of the annual accumulation stems from a single event although several snowfall and strong wind events were predicted by the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Finally the paper discusses the benefit of laser scanning compared to multiplying single-point sensors in the context of monitoring snow depth. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) The Cryosphere 10 4 1495 1511 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Palaeoclimatology |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Palaeoclimatology Picard, G Arnaud, L Panel, J-M Morin, S Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Palaeoclimatology |
description |
Although both the temporal and spatial variations of the snow depth are usually of interest for numerous applications, available measurement techniques are either space-oriented (e.g. terrestrial laser scans) or time-oriented (e.g. ultrasonic ranging probe). Because of snow heterogeneity, measuring depth in a single point is insufficient to provide accurate and representative estimates. We present a cost-effective automatic instrument to acquire spatio-temporal variations of snow depth. The device comprises a laser meter mounted on a 2-axis stage and can scan ≈ 200 000 points over an area of 100200 m 2 in 4 h. Two instruments, installed in Antarctica (DomeC) and the French Alps (Colde Porte), have been operating continuously and unattended over 2015 with a success rate of 65 and 90 % respectively. The precision of single point measurements and long-term stability were evaluated to be about 1 cm and the accuracy to be 5 cm or better. The spatial variability in the scanned area reached 710 cm (root mean square) at both sites, which means that the number of measurements is sufficient to average out the spatial variability and yield precise mean snow depth. With such high precision, it was possible for the first time at DomeC to(1)observe a 3-month period of regular and slow increase of snow depth without apparent link to snowfalls and (2)highlight that most of the annual accumulation stems from a single event although several snowfall and strong wind events were predicted by the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Finally the paper discusses the benefit of laser scanning compared to multiplying single-point sensors in the context of monitoring snow depth. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Picard, G Arnaud, L Panel, J-M Morin, S |
author_facet |
Picard, G Arnaud, L Panel, J-M Morin, S |
author_sort |
Picard, G |
title |
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
title_short |
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
title_full |
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica |
title_sort |
design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the alps and in antarctica |
publisher |
Copernicus GmbH |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872/1/Picard et al 2016b.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 Picard, G and Arnaud, L and Panel, J-M and Morin, S, Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica, Cryosphere, 10, (4) pp. 1495-1511. ISSN 1994-0416 (2016) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/114872 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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10 |
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4 |
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