Acoustic sensors for snowdrift measurements: How should they be used for research purposes?

This paper investigates the use of a sensor based on acoustic technology to record the transport rate of blowing snow in the field. Particle flux is important but poorly documented information, as it is one of the most essential parameters of certain predictive numerical models. Therefore, extensive field data are needed, which requires accurate remote-controlled sensors. Flowcapt is the best-known acoustic sensor able to make such measurements and it has been in widespread use for practical purposes. This paper establishes a no exhaustive list of the limits attributable to the device's design, such as poor treatment of particle velocity, resulting in aberrations in the recorded data. As a consequence, and even if the sensor provides good information in operational use, a regrettable inaccuracy in the collected data prevents the use of such measurements for research purposes. Nevertheless, a correction algorithm based on a statistical calibration of the sensor is proposed, which should make it possible to use the recorded data for preliminary approximations. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.