Spatial-variability of snow surface and snowpack properties characterized by near-infrared diffuse reflectance imaging

Near-infrared diffuse reflectance imaging is well-suited to accurately characterize macro- and microscopic properties of snow.¹ The technique's versatility and capability to resolve details down to the millimeter-scale, while simultaneously capturing areas up to a few square-meters, renders it ideal for ground-truth observations of snow surfaces and its stratigraphic structure. Specific surface area, density, as well as liquid water content properties are readily derived from the measured reflectance data using snow-optical theory.^2-6

 

We present recent results of surface and snowpack measurements obtained during field-campaigns in the Swiss Alps, the Arctic and the Antarctic, focusing on spatial-variability on the centimeter to meter scale. These insights provide valuable information to established measurement techniques that sample one-dimensional profiles only and thus lack the additional spatial information. Moreover, especially the surface measurements provide small scale details that are averaged-out in remote sensing data from drones, planes and satellites.

 

Using near-infrared diffuse reflectance imaging enables us to observe spatio-temporal variations of snow properties on the centimeter to meter scale, providing important ground-truth observations to better gauge the snow's role within the climate system.

 

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2. Mewes, L. et al., under review.

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