The early season snow in the Alps allowed us to get an early head-start to this seasons testing, with avalanche danger already rearing its head once this season, highlighting the ever present danger that consists in Austria’s steep alpine terrain.
Our objective was to bring our most recent prototypes, specifically those with our newest SKNOW radar sensor. We were really excited to start data acquisition with the newest version, a fully stand-alone unit with an improved antenna design and a different radar chip than last season. In speaking with guides in the area, we learned that one of the troubling conditions at that moment in the Austrian snowpack was related to overgrown grass in off-piste zones where high-alpine farmlands exist. This vegetation has been trapping air underneath the snowpack in quantities that have lead to a general instability of the snow pack’s ability to attach to the ground, and unless you know which areas are subject to these problems before the snow falls, these air-pockets can be extremely difficult to detect using traditional snow analysis.
Findings: After identifying a few areas where we were informed could be subject to these types of air-pockets, due to their off-season land-use, we dug a few pits to profile the snowpack. The radar data from the SKNOW sensor shows a strong ability to detect the ground reflections and for us to interpret and analyse the snow-to-ground conditions. We’re very excited about our new sensor and the datasets!
