Item: Avatech: The First Portable, Web Connected Snow Penetrometer for Professionals
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Title: Avatech: The First Portable, Web Connected Snow Penetrometer for Professionals
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2014 Proceedings, Banff, Canada
Authors:
- Jim Christian [ AvaTech, Inc, Park City, UT, USA ] [ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA ]
- Sam Whittemore [ AvaTech, Inc, Park City, UT, USA ] [ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA ]
- Brint Markle [ AvaTech, Inc, Park City, UT, USA ] [ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA ]
- Thomas Laakso [ AvaTech, Inc, Park City, UT, USA ]
- Andrew Sohn [ AvaTech, Inc, Park City, UT, USA ]
Date: 2014-09-29
Abstract: Understanding snowpack stratigraphy and stability, its spatial and temporal variability, and the associated avalanche risks is inherently difficult, time consuming and one of the greatest challenges snow professionals face. For decades, snow professionals have recognized the need to develop field tools that can gather fast, quantitative, and accurate stratigraphic information about the snowpack which, in combination with other observations, provides invaluable information about slope stability. Current tools like the SnowMicroPen (SMP) and Ram Penetrometer have done wonders for the snow science community, but have not been broadly adopted by professionals due to high costs, difficulty of use, or other constraints. At AvaTech, we have developed the first portable, web-connected, and affordable snow penetrometer, the "SP1", designed to quickly and accurately sample, record, and evaluate snowpack structure and other critical snowpack characteristics. AvaTech measurement data is automatically synched via bluetooth to a smartphone application and then to the cloud, creating a unique crowdsourced database of geographically based, snow conditions. Sharing this data across a broad network has the potential to create one of the largest sets of spatial and temporal snowpack information in the world, a potential high value resource for avalanche forecasting, snow hydrology, snow ecology, glaciology, and remote sensing applications. In our paper, we share qualitative and quantitative results from a rigorous scientific testing program with over 50 professional partner organizations across the US (CO, UT, CA, MT, WY, ID, AK, NH, VT), Canada, Norway, Iceland, Chile, Greenland and Switzerland. Specifically, we highlight high correlations between probe data and professional manual snowpit assessments as well as key learnings from testing.
Language of Article: English
Presenters:
Keywords: Snow penetrometers, spatial variability, avalanche forecasting
Page Number(s): 891-896
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Digital Abstract Not Available
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