EXTENSIVE MEASUREMENTS OF SNOW DEPTH USING FM-CW RADAR

A sled-mounted X-band FM-CW radar and field data reduction system was developed and field tested. An integral part of the measurement progra m was the use of a computer algorithm to pick peak radar amplitudes, w hich were needed to convert radar data into depths in the field. A set of field protocols, designed to collocate radar and hand-probe depth measurements, were used with the algorithm to locally calibrate the ra dar because, without local calibration, depths were unreliable. Mean s now depths determined using the calibrated radar agreed with mean dept hs determined by hand to within 3% but had a consistently larger varia nce because of radar measurement errors. An analysis of the errors ind icates that they are random and can be removed by filtering using an O ptimal (Wiener) filter, thereby producing both the same mean and varia nce in snow depth from the radar as that obtained by hand-probing. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.