Performance of snow density measurement systems in snow stratigraphies

Abstract Gravimetric and dielectric permittivity measurement systems (DMS) are applied to measure snow density, but few studies have addressed differences between the two under complex snowpack conditions. A field experiment was conducted density using in stratigraphical layers of different densities, liquid water content (LWC), hardness, shear strength, performance analyzed compared. The results showed that from DMS tended underestimate by 9% dry overestimate 3% wet snowpack, expressed as percentage mean gravimetric system (GMS). Compared with GMS, has relatively low precision accuracy similar snowpack. increased increase hardness strength measured DMSs decrease will help operators choose a more reasonable based on characteristics get reliable data optimize measurements.