Comparison of density cutters for snow profile observations

被引:80
作者
Conger, Steven M. [1 ]
McClung, David M. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ British Columbia, Dept Geog, Avalanche Res Grp, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada
基金
加拿大自然科学与工程研究理事会;
关键词
D O I
10.3189/002214309788609038
中图分类号
P9 [自然地理学];
学科分类号
0705 ; 070501 ;
摘要
An investigation was made to estimate the variance, measurement errors and sampling error in currently accepted practices for manual snow density measurement carried out as part of snow profile observations using the available variety of density cutters. A field experiment in dry snow conditions was conducted using a randomized block design to account for layer spatial variability. Cutter types included a 500 cm(3) aluminium tube, 200 and 100 cm(3) stainless-steel box types, 200 cm(3) stainless-steel wedge types and a 100 cm(3) stainless-steel tube. Without accounting for variation due to weighing devices, the range of values for 'accepted practice' determined in this study included variation within individual cutters of 0.8-6.2%, variation between cutters of 3-12%, variation between cutter means and layer means of 2-7%, and under-sampling errors of 0-2%. The results of a statistical analysis suggest that snow density measurements taken using various density cutters are significantly different from each other. Without adjustment for under-sampling, and given that the mean of all measurements is the accepted true value of the layer density, variation exclusively between cutter types provides 'accepted practice' measurements that are within 11% of the true density.
引用
收藏
页码:163 / 169
页数:7
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