The Cryosphere Discussions www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net 1994-0432 1994-0440 4 3 2010 10.5194/tcd-4-1467-2010 http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/4/1467/2010/ http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/4/1467/2010/tcd-4-1467-2010.html http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/4/1467/2010/tcd-4-1467-2010.pdf 1467 1496 2010-08-27 Some fundamentals of handheld snow surface thermography C. Shea cashea@ucalgary.ca B. Jamieson Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada This paper presents the concepts needed to perform snow surface thermography with a modern thermal imager. Snow-specific issues in the 7.5 to 13 μm spectrum such as ice emissivity, photographic angle, operator heating, and others receive detailed review and discussion. To illustrate the usefulness of this measurement technique, various applications are presented. These include detecting spatial temperature variation on snow pit walls and measuring the dependence of heat conduction on grain type. Armstrong, R L. and Brun, E.: Snow and Climate: Physical Processes, Surface Energy Exchange and Modeling, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2008. Brandt, R E. and Warren, S G.: Solar-heating rates and temperature profiles in Antarctic snow and ice, J. Glaciol., 39, 99–110, 1993. Canadian Avalanche Association: Observational Guidelines and Recording Standards for Weather, Snowpack and Avalanches, Canadian Avalanche Association, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, 2007. Dozier, J. and Warren, S G.: Effect of Viewing Angle on the Infrared Brightness Temperature of Snow, Water Resour. Res., 18, 1424–1434, 1982. Fierz, C.: Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers, edited by: Singh, V., Singh, P., and Haritashya, U. K., Springer Publishing, New York, 2010. Fierz, C., Armstrong, R., Durand, Y., Etchevers, P., Greene, E., McClung, D., Nishimura, K., Satyawali, P., and Sokratov, S.: The International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground, IHP-VII Technical Documents in Hydrology N 83, IACS Contribution N 1, UNESCO-IHP, Paris, 2009. Hachikubo, A. and Akitaya, E.: Effect of wind on surface hoar growth on snow, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 4367–4373, 1997. Kaempfer, T., Hopkins, M., and Perovich, D.: A three-dimensional microstructure-based photon-tracking model of radiative transfer in snow, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D24113, doi:10.1029/2006JD008239, 2007. Lillesand, T., Kiefer, R., and Chipman, J.: Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation, Sixth Edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2008. McClung, D. and Schaerer, P.: The Avalanche Handbook, Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA, 2006. Morstad, B., Adams, E., and McKittrick, L.: Experimental and analytical study of radiation-recrystallized near-surface facets in snow, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 47, 90–101, 2007. R~Development Core Team: R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R~Foundation for Statistical Computing, http://www.r-project.org, last access: 23~August~2010, ISBN~3-900051-07-0, Vienna, Austria, 2006. Salisbury, J W., D'Aria, D M., and Wald, A.: Measurements of thermal infrared spectral reflectance of frost, snow, and ice, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 24235–24240, 1994a. Salisbury, J W., Wald, A., and D'Aria, D M.: Thermal infrared remote sensing and Kirchoff's law: 1. Laboratory measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 11897–11911, 1994b. Schneebeli, M. and Sokratov, S.: Tomography of temperature gradient metamorphism of snow and associated changes in heat conductivity, Hydrol. Process., 18, 3655–3665, 2004. Sugita, M. and Brursaert, W.: Cloud effect in the estimation of instantaneous downward longwave radiation, Water Resour. Res., 29, 599–605, 1993. Wolfe, W L. and Zissis, G J.: The Infrared Handbook, The Infrared Information and Analysis Center (IRIA) Center, Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, prepared for The Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, Washington, DC, and Arlington, VA, 1978.