Project Title:

Time-Resolved In-Situ Field Measurement of the Liquid and Frozen Water Contents of

08.15-1512
Time-Resolved In-Situ Field Measurement of the Liquid and Frozen Water Contents of
Snow
Ophir Corp.
7333 West Jefferson Ave, Suite 210
Lakewood
CO
80235
Nelson
Loren D.
NAS7-966
Amount:   
JPL
NAS7-943

Abstract:

   In Phase I of this SBIR research effort we have fabricated prototypehardware and demonstrated in the laboratory that is feasible to independently and
simultaneously sense the liquid (unfrozen) and ice (frozen) water content of in-situ
natural snowpack in real-time with an electronic sensor.

Such measurements are critical for "ground-truth" assessment of active and passive
satellite microwave sensors used in high-
latitude environmental research and military monitoring of arctic sea ice.  Microwave
reflectivity and emissivity of snowpack are strongly dependent on its unfrozen water
content.

Phase I laboratory tests and theory indicate that we will be able to extend our preliminary
Phase I results to simultaneous real-
time volumetric measurement of liquid, air, and frozen water in natural snowpack
in Phase II development.

This will require refinements to our Phase I designs to eliminate interfering effects
such as space charge polarization, DC conductivity offsets, and insulation caused
artificial Debye dispersion.

We will then test our second generation snow-liquid-water-content sensor technology
in the field during cooperative field-trials sponsored by the Division of Ice Dynamics
of the U.S. Geological Survey.