SBIR-STTR Award

Apine Hydromet sets out to research and further develop a next generation snow water content sensors. The development will allow Federal State and private agencies to phase out the use of legacy snow water content sensors (fluid snow pillows) which have significant technological limitations and environmental concerns due to the measurement principals and use of anti-freeze. The project objective is to research design and test the cosmic ray detector which eliminates all major known issues with current snow water equivalent remote continuous monitoring. Sensors simultaneously at an existing snow water content monitoring site. Research has been conducted that demonstrates proof of concept and theoretical feasibility. There remain unknown factors that need to be researched prior to incorporation into a design before agencies will begin to phase out current sensors. Additional research will be conducted for the sensor to reduce the costs improve electronics and signal processing and understand potential temporal variation. The project will be guided and reviewed by a committee of leading snow hydrologists who work with current networks for water supply and flood forecasting. This will aid in providing peer reviewed design and data analysis prior to entering Phase II for product commercialization. The research of both sensors will lead to the development and commercialization of a new age snow water content sensor allowing for the phase out of fluid based sensors. This will directly alleviate environmental impacts improve data reliability and minimize reoccurring costs for the operators.