Low-cost monitoring of snow height and thermal properties with inexpensive temperature sensors
- Small, self-recording temperature sensors were installed at several heights along a metal rod at five locations in a case study catchment. For each sensor, the presence or absence of snow cover was determined on the basis of its insulating effect and the resulting reduction of the diurnal temperature oscillations. Sensor coverage was then converted into a time series of snow height for each location. Additionally, cold content was calculated. Snow height and cold content provide valuable information for spring flood prediction. Good agreement of estimated snow heights with reference measurements was achieved and increased discharge in the study catchment coincided with low cold content of the snow cover. The results of the proposed distributed assessment of snow cover and snow state show great potential for (i) flood warning, (ii) assimilation of snow state data and (iii) modelling snowmelt process.
Author details: | Dominik Edwin ReusserORCiDGND, Erwin Zehe |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7937 |
ISSN: | 0885-6087 |
ISSN: | 1099-1085 |
Title of parent work (English): | Hydrological processes |
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell |
Place of publishing: | Hoboken |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2011 |
Publication year: | 2011 |
Release date: | 2017/03/26 |
Tag: | cold content; heat diffusion; snow measurements; temperature; temperature index approach |
Volume: | 25 |
Issue: | 12 |
Number of pages: | 12 |
First page: | 1841 |
Last Page: | 1852 |
Funding institution: | OPAQUE within the BMBF-Forderaktivitat "Risikomanagement extremer Hochwasserereignisse" (RIMAX) |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Institution name at the time of the publication: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie |
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geoökologie |