USING OPTICAL SCINTILLATION TO MEASURE SNOW PARAMETERS

INCREASING NEEDS ON WEATHER MONITORING HAS PURSUED THE AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF PRECIPITATION USING REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY AND OPTICAL SCINTILLATION IN RECENT YEARS. ALTHOUGH AN EARLIER DEVELOPED OPTICAL RAIN GAUGE HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TESTED IN FIELD OPERATIONS FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF INSTANTANEOUS RAINRATES, THE SYSTEM IS UNABLE TO MEASURE THE EQUIVALENT WATER CONTENT OF SNOW. SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGYIS PROPOSING A TECHNIQUE TO QUANTITATIVELY MEASURE THE SNOW INTENSITY AND THE EQUIVALENT WATER CONTENT OF SNOW USING OPTICAL SCINTILLATION TECHNOLOGY SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE OPTICAL RAIN GAUGE. DURING PHASE I, SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY WILL ESTABLISH THE THEORETICAL BASIS TO THE DETECTION OF THE SNOW-INDUCED SIGNALS. THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USED TO OBTAIN A SET OF OPTIMUM DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR A LOW-COST OPERATIONAL RAIN/SNOW GAUGE. IN ADDITION, SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY WILL ALSO PREPARE A TELEMETRY ADD-ON TECHNIQUE FOR AUTOMATED REMOTE REPORTING.