Experimental snow monitoring station was installed in the Broken River mountain range and workshops on monitoring technologies were held.
Approximately 80% of the fresh water in the channels of the Coquimbo region comes from high mountain snow. Despite the importance of snow, there is still little information about its current amount due mainly to the investment and operation costs of mountain monitoring equipment.
For this reason, the Meteorological Area and the Glaciology Laboratory of the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones (CEAZA) together with the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) are working on the development of new technologies for snow monitoring that allow expanding the mountain range monitoring network through the use of technologies developed by the institution.
This initiative is carried out within the framework of the project “Snow water equivalent, snow height and air temperature monitoring network for high mountain prototype based on open hardware development” financed by ANID’s IDE+A fund. Cristian Orrego, in charge of the Meteorological Area of CEAZA and director of the project, details that “we wish to initiate a link between CEAZA and the University of Canterbury, which will allow in the near future to carry out joint projects and cooperate at the level of transfer of capabilities and technologies.”
Orrego details that during his visit to New Zealand “we visited the Broken River mountain range, where we surveyed the place with a view to future equipment installations. We also held two workshops associated with the development of monitoring technologies where researchers, technicians and students participated. We also took advantage of meeting with researchers who have experience with monitoring in Antarctica and finally installed experimental monitoring equipment at the University of Canterbury that measures snow height, air temperature and snow weight that we hope will be used in the future. “They can try it in their mountain range.”
Shelley MacDonell, a scientist associated with CEAZA and an academic at the University of Canterbury, suggests that it is important to test sensors in different environments to strengthen their potential.
“Each institution has different strengths in knowledge and these types of experiences allow this knowledge to be shared between the Chilean and New Zealand teams,” says Dr. MacDonell.
In the future the teams plan new initiatives that continue the development and exchange of ideas, advanced human capital and technologies, along with improving the understanding of the processes that affect snow and ice and their connections with the hydrological system on both sides. of the world.
It should be noted that Shelley MacDonell (associate researcher at CEAZA and academic at the University of Canterbury), Justin Harrison (Technician in the Environmental and Earth Sciences area, University of Canterbury), Adrián Gallardo (Electronic engineer of the project) and Cristian Orrego (in charge of the meteorological area of CEAZA and director of the project) together with various researchers, professionals and students who contributed to the technological workshops.
