Evaluation of ultrasonic snow depth sensors for U.S. snow measurements

Ultrasonic snow depth sensors are examined as a low cost, automated method to perform traditional snow measurements. In collaboration with the National Weather Service, nine sites across the United States were equipped with two manufacturers of ultrasonic depth sensors: the Campbell Scientific SR-50 and the Judd Communications sensor. Following standard observing protocol, manual measurements of 6-h snowfall and total snow depth on ground were also gathered. Results show that the sensors report the depth of snow directly beneath on average within +/-1 cm of manual observations. However, the sensors tended to underestimate the traditional total depth of snow-on-ground measurement by approximately 2 cm. This is mainly attributed to spatial variability of the snow cover caused by factors such as wind scour and wind drift. After assessing how well the sensors represented the depth of snow on the ground, two algorithms were created to estimate the traditional measurement of 6-h snowfall from the continuous snow depth reported by the sensors. A 5-min snowfall algorithm (5MSA) and a 60-min snowfall algorithm (60MSA) were created. These simple algorithms essentially sum changes in snow depth using 5- and 60-min intervals of change and sum positive changes over the traditional 6-h observation periods after compaction routines are applied. The algorithm results were compared to manual observations of snowfall. The results indicated that the 5MSA worked best with the Campbell Scientific sensor. The Campbell sensor appears to estimate snowfall more accurately than the Judd sensor due to the difference in sensor resolution. The Judd sensor results did improve with the 60-min snowfall algorithm. This technology does appear to have potential for collecting useful and timely information on snow accumulation, but determination of snowfall to the current requirement of 0.1 in. (0.25 cm) is a difficult task.