Item: ACOUSTIC SNOW STRATIGRAPHY MEASUREMENTS - FROM THE SOUND OF BREAKING SNOW TOWARDS ENHANCED SNOWPACK STABILITY ASSESSMENT
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Title: ACOUSTIC SNOW STRATIGRAPHY MEASUREMENTS - FROM THE SOUND OF BREAKING SNOW TOWARDS ENHANCED SNOWPACK STABILITY ASSESSMENT
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2024, Tromsø, Norway
Authors:
- Tiziano Di Pietro [ Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF ]
- Julia Kaltenborn [ Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF ] [ McGill University, Mila - Quebec AI Institute ]
- Sophia Groninger [ Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF ] [ Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen ]
- Christoph Mitterer [ Avalanche Warning Service Tyrol ]
- Martin Schneebeli [ Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF ]
Date: 2024-09-23
Abstract: Snowpack stratigraphy measurements are essential for avalanche forecasting, snow-sports, and various cryospheric science applications. Such measurements are needed to assess slope stability and provide ground-truth data for remote sensing and numerical snowpack models. To date, many different techniques for acquiring snowpack stratigraphy measurements exist. The most common ones are the manual snow pit observation, the high-resolution penetrometer SnowMicroPen® (SMP), and the micro Computer Tomography (microCT), all of them requiring experienced operators and time. Since all these techniques come at a high cost, as they are labor intensive and/or require expensive tools, the number of available measurements is often very limited. To overcome the challenge of rapidly acquiring snow profiles, and ultimately increase the number of available measurements, we developed the SnowSoundPen (SSP). The SSP implements a novel measurement technology. It is based on a probe with a sensing tip which is inserted into the snowpack and integrates a microphone which records the breaking sound of snow. Since it is known from microCT measurements that snow is a sintered 3D ice structure, we propose to use the acoustic response of breaking ice structures to assess the snowpack’s hardness, instead of using the mechanical response as the SMP and other devices do. This method allows to replace the expensive and fragile force sensor, traditionally used, with a cheaper microphone, that is protected by a fully enclosed tip, making it thus even usable under melt-freeze conditions. The SSP is lightweight and portable, can be used in a hand-driven or motor-driven configuration, and most importantly, it can be produced at a fraction of the cost of devices like the SMP. Here we show that the audio signal acquired with the SSP can be translated into an SMP-like hardness signal. Estimating such parameters is key to show the SSP’s usefulness for operational measurements. The SSP enables cheap and yet precise measurements of snow stratigraphy, and can thus ultimately be a tool to rapidly assess the snowpack’s characteristics. By providing faster snowpack stratigraphy assessments, we hope that the SSP will contribute towards improving avalanche forecasting and establishing safer snow-sport practices.
Object ID: ISSW2024_P8.1.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Tiziano Di Pietro
Keywords: Instrumentation, Snow Stratigraphy Measurement, Acoustic Measurement
Page Number(s): 1065 - 1072
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