Application of georadar for snow cover surveying

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