Snowision develops fully
automatic, remotely operated small-sized sensors for retrieving all the main snowpack properties
Snowision allows the prediction of snowpack behaviour in a wide area, which helps the ski resort management to make decisions about how much exactly artificial snow to be produced in order to have enough until the next appropriate weather conditions.
Snowision sensor, or network of sensors, will help to assess the snow quality online, improve effectiveness of snow maintenance and cut costs
Snowision sensor works remotely with no need of hand work. It has obvious advantages, such as wide
area measurement, fully automatic operation, remote data transfer and high angular
resolution. It can be integrated into the snowmaking system as well, so the ski slope operator receives a clear report on the snow production volumes.
Unique
sensor network installed along ski slopes will project real-time 3D map of the
snow cover by providing information of:
1) Depth of snow cover (up to 1.5
m) or ice depth (up to 0.5 m);
2) Snow temperature at any depth;
3) Snow density and snow water equivalent
(SWE);
4) Microwave albedo of the snow;
5) Melting and freezing points;
6) Ice crust or water layer
presence;
7) Snow structure.
Snowision-provided data are sufficient to utilize the full potential of the snowpack modelling software, alike other solutions.
Ski resorts will be able to perform smart snow
management and as a result, minimize artificial snow production costs, increase
ski days as well as improve safety on ski slopes.
Ski resort operators will be provided with a comprehensive report about the conditions of the snowpack fully automatically and in real-time, as well as with suggestions on how much snow is needed to be produced today.
In industry experts opinion this may lead to 30% savings on snow production. This also means less water processed and less electricity spent, saving resources and the local climate significantly.