气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier

CCPortal

DOI	10.5194/tc-13-3413-2019
	Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier
	Gugerli R.; Salzmann N.; Huss M.; Desilets D.
发表日期	2019
ISSN	19940416
EISSN	13
起始页码	3413
结束页码	3434
卷号	13 期号:12
英文摘要	Snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements of seasonal snowpack are crucial in many research fields. Yet accurate measurements at a high temporal resolution are difficult to obtain in high mountain regions. With a cosmic ray sensor (CRS), SWE can be inferred from neutron counts.We present the analyses of temporally continuous SWE measurements by a CRS on an alpine glacier in Switzerland (Glacier de la Plaine Morte) over two winter seasons (2016/17 and 2017/18), which differed markedly in the amount and timing of snow accumulation. By combining SWE with snow depth measurements, we calculate the daily mean density of the snowpack. Compared to manual field observations from snow pits, the autonomous measurements overestimate SWE by +2%±13 %. Snow depth and the bulk snow density deviate from the manual measurements by ±6% and ±9 %, respectively. The CRS measured with high reliability over two winter seasons and is thus considered a promising method to observe SWE at remote alpine sites. We use the daily observations to classify winter season days into those dominated by accumulation (solid precipitation, snow drift), ablation (snow drift, snowmelt) or snow densification. For each of these process-dominated days the prevailing meteorological conditions are distinct. The continuous SWE measurements were also used to define a scaling factor for precipitation amounts from nearby meteorological stations. With this analysis, we show that a best-possible constant scaling factor results in cumulative precipitation amounts that differ by a mean absolute error of less than 80mmw.e. from snow accumulation at this site. © Author(s) 2019.
学科领域	ablation; autonomy; cosmic ray; error analysis; snow accumulation; snow water equivalent; snowmelt; snowpack; valley glacier; Bern [Switzerland]; Plaine Morte Glacier; Switzerland
语种	英语
scopus关键词	ablation; autonomy; cosmic ray; error analysis; snow accumulation; snow water equivalent; snowmelt; snowpack; valley glacier; Bern [Switzerland]; Plaine Morte Glacier; Switzerland
来源期刊	The Cryosphere
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/118788
作者单位	Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland; Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Hydroinnova LLC, Albuquerque, NM, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Gugerli R.,Salzmann N.,Huss M.,et al. Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier[J],2019,13(12).
APA	Gugerli R.,Salzmann N.,Huss M.,&Desilets D..(2019).Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier.The Cryosphere,13(12).
MLA	Gugerli R.,et al."Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier".The Cryosphere 13.12(2019).