Method, Apparatus, and System to Remotely Acquire Information from Volumes in a Snowpack

The method of claim 2, further comprising:

• modulating a frequency of said transmitted electromagnetic energy over a sufficient bandwidth to resolve distinct volumes within said snowpack with respect to a first axis;
• translating an antenna system transmitting said transmitted electromagnetic energy and receiving said electromagnetic reflections to occupy different positions with respect to a second axis substantially orthogonal to said first axis over a first distance sufficient to resolve different volumes within said snowpack with respect to said second axis;
• and
• translating said antenna system to occupy different positions with respect to a third axis, substantially orthogonal to said first axis and said second axis over a second distance sufficient to resolve different volumes within said snowpack with respect to said third axis, wherein said positions cover an over an area of dimensions defined by said first distance and said second distance.

An apparatus for remotely acquiring information from a snowpack comprising:

• a signal conditioning module modulating electromagnetic energy across various frequencies within at least one bandwidth sufficiently large to resolve different volumes within said snowpack with respect to a first axis, defined by a direction of propagation, and with sufficient power to transmit said electromagnetic energy to a remote area of interest in a snowpack and to produce detectible reflections;
• an antenna system electrically coupled to said signal conditioning module, wherein said antenna system transmits said electromagnetic energy and receives said reflections from said snowpack;
• a memory coupled to said signal conditioning module, wherein said memory stores data about values for said reflections generated by said signal conditioning module;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to said memory, wherein said processor determines reflection values for different volumes within said snowpack.

A system for remotely retrieving information from a snowpack comprising:

• a signal conditioning module modulating electromagnetic energy across various frequencies within at least one bandwidth sufficiently large to resolve different volumes within said snowpack with respect to a first axis, defined by a direction of propagation, and with sufficient power to transmit said electromagnetic energy to a remote area of interest in a snowpack and to produce detectible reflections;
• an antenna system electrically coupled to said signal conditioning module transmitting said electromagnetic energy and receiving said reflections from said snowpack;
• infrastructure for translating said antenna system substantially orthogonal to said first axis, wherein said infrastructure translates said antenna system to occupy different positions with respect to a second axis and with respect to a third axis substantially orthogonal to said first axis and substantially orthogonal to one another over an area sufficient to resolve different volumes within said snowpack, and wherein said infrastructure maintains an orientation of said antenna system relative to said area of interest to ensure that electromagnetic energy incident upon said snowpack arrives at a grazing angle sufficiently shallow to maximize returns from volume scattering in volumes of said snowpack compared to reflections from a boundary between said snowpack and ground underneath;
• a memory coupled to said signal conditioning module storing reflection data indexed to reflection frequencies and positions of said antenna system at which reflections are received;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to said memory determining reflection values for different volumes within said snowpack.