Snow Fork for Field Determination of the Density and Wetness Profiles of a Snow Pack

Abstract

A radiowave sensor (a snow fork) for determining the density and wetness profiles of a snow pack with a single measurement has been developed. The snow fork is based on the measurement of the dielectric properties (real and imaginary part) of snow around 1 GHz. Due to the open structure of the resonator the measurement is nondestructive. Automatic measuring equipment guarantees instantaneous measurement results that can be recorded in the field.