Analysis Of Snow Water Equivalent (Swe) Of Snowpack By An Ultra Wide Band Step Frequency Continuous Wave Radar (Sfcw)

A ground-based step frequency continuous wave radar (SFCW), based in a software defined radio (SDR), in the range from 150MHz to 6GHz has been designed, fabricated and tested under real conditions. The radar has been applied to measure the snow water equivalent (SWE) of snowpack in the Spanish Pyrenees. A matrix method is applied to solve the electromagnetic reflectance of multilayer cover snow including frequency and wetness dependence of complex relative dielectric permittivity of snow layers. An approximated method to obtain SWE is presented. The method is based on the comparison of measured reflected signal vs distance plot with the calculated with an “equivalent” snow layer. Preliminary results are presented and compared with those provided by a cosmic-ray neutron SWE gauge over the 2019 winter. These results suggest the viability of the proposed method.