Experimental studies on determination of the snow cover density of reservoirs by remote GPR

It is known that the conventional contact method of the snow cover density measuring is ineffective for estimating water accumulation over large areas. In order to solve this problem it is reasonable to apply existing remote sensing methods of geophysics in snow surveys. This article is devoted to investigation of the remote GPR application possibilities in snow surveys. Experimental works were carried out on the make near Yakutsk (Russia) at the beginning of March 2012. In these studies we used the weight snow-gauge VS-43 (Russia) and the OKO-2 (Russia) georadar with the antenna unit AB-700 with a center frequency of 700 MHz. Measurements of the snow cover density were made by the weight snow-gauge at 41 sites. Also at these sites remote GPR sensing of snow cover was made by georadar located at a height of 1.7 m from the surface of snow cover. Further, using the data on amplitude of the reflected signals, we calculated the snow cover density at each site by specially developed technique. Thus, applying two fundamentally different methods, we obtained the data on the snow cover density. Analysis of the results, obtained by two methods, showed that the relative error in determination of the snow cover density by remote GPR was about 26%. The conducted studies confirmed the fundamental possibility of the snow cover density determination of reservoirs by remote GPR.