Lake ice measurements from soil water content reflectometer sensors

Abstract

AbstractLake ice depth provides important information about local and regional climate change, weather patterns, and recreational safety, as well as impacting in situ ecology and carbon cycling. However, it is challenging to measure ice depth continuously from a remote location, as existing methods are too large, expensive, and/or time‐intensive. Therefore, we present a novel application that resolves size, cost, and automation issues using commercially‐available soil water content reflectometer sensors from multiple manufactures. Analysis of sensors deployed in an environmental chamber using a scale model of a lake demonstrated accurate measure of the change in ice depth over any time period to within 1 cm, through sensor response of liquid‐to‐solid phase change. A robust correlation exists between volumetric water content in time as a function of environmental temperature and ice growth. This relationship allows us to convert volumetric water content into ice depth. An array of these sensors can be used in lake or river settings to create a temporally high‐resolution ice depth record, which fills in a needed gap for ecological or climatological studies as well as increasing public recreational safety.