Ultrasonic Investigation of Snow and Ice Parameters

• Authors: T. Gudra , L. Najwer
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In the paper some ultrasonic methods of measurement of sound velocity and attenuation in snow and ice media are presented. The measurement setup consists of ultrasonic airborne transducers working at the frequency of f = 40 kHz. A non-contact method of reflection coefficient on air-snow border was applied during measurement of different types of snow in the density range of 120-700 kg/m^3. Examples of obtained signals are also presented. It was proved that there is a linear dependence between reflection coefficient and snow density. The state of snow or ice layer is not precisely correlated with their acoustical parameters: ultrasound wave velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic wave during the measurement of the layer depth using the non-contact method. Reflection coefficient of snow can be used for estimation of snow density.

Keywords

EN

42.68.Ge; 42.79.Ls; 43.35.Ae; 92.60.Wc

Discipline

• 92.60.Wc: Weather analysis and prediction
• 42.79.Ls: Scanners, image intensifiers, and image converters(see also 85.60.-q Optoelectronic devices)
• 42.68.Ge: Effects of clouds and water; ice crystal phenomena(see also 92.60.Jq Water in the atmosphere; 92.60.Nv Cloud physics and chemistry in meteorology)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 625-629

Dates

published

2011-10

Contributors

author

T. Gudra

• Institute of Telecommunications, Teleinformatics and Acoustics, Wrocław University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland

author

L. Najwer

• Institute of Telecommunications, Teleinformatics and Acoustics, Wrocław University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland

References

• 1. R. Skapski, About Snow, www.imgw.pl (in Polish)
• 2. R. Skapski, Ice Phenomena, www.imgw.pl (in Polish)
• 3. N.J. Doesken, R.J. Leffler, 'Snow foolin', Weatherwise, (Jan/Feb 2000)
• 4. T. Iwase, T. Sakuma, K. Yoshihisa, in: Proc. 17th Int. Cong. Acoust., Rome, Vol. 1, Ed. A. Bettucci, ICA, Rome 2001, p. 274
• 5. G.R. Garrison, R.E. Francois, T. Wen, R.P. Stein, W.J. Felton, 'Sound Speed, Reflectivity and Absorption Measurements in Arctic Ice in 1988', Technical Report of Washington Univ. Seattle, Applied Physics Lab, Mar. 1991
• 6. G.R. Garrison, K.L. Williams, P.D. Mourad, R.E. Francois, T. Wen, W.J. Felton, 'Sound Speed, Reflectivity, Absorption, and Thermal Diffusivity Measurements in Arctic Ice in 1990', Technical Report of Washington Univ. Seattle, Applied Physics Lab, Nov. 1993
• 7. J. Wehr, Measurements of Velocity and Attenuation of Ultrasonic Waves, PWN, Warsaw 1972 (in Polish)
• 8. Underwater Acoustics, Technical Guides - Speed of Sound in Pure Water, National Physical Laboratory, Crown 2000

Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.120.625