Preliminary Results of an Experiment to Determine the Thickness of Snow Cover Using Ground Penetrating Radar and a Laser Rangefinder

Abstract

The article discusses the combination of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) with a laser rangefinder to determine the snow cover thickness, an experiment is described in accordance with the proposed methodology and a comparative analysis of the data obtained is carried out. The purpose of the proposed development of the combined method is to improve the accuracy of snow cover depth determination. Many tasks require high spatial resolution both in the horizontal coordinate and in the depth of the snow cover, since local excess of its critical level can lead to irreversible consequences. Such a situation can arise, for example, when avalanches come down in mountainous areas or when roofs of a large area collapse when snow accumulates on them. The accuracy of the snow depth determination obtained in the experiment is ∼ 10 cm and the resolution along the horizontal coordinate is ∼ 5 cm. The predicted distance based on the equipment used is about 500 meters. The proposed method can be used for determining the amount of snow on roofs of buildings and structures, as well as in predicting the descent of avalanches, and in search for hidden objects under the snow in emergency situations.