Method used to track ants underground could revolutionize how we measure snow depth from space

When it comes to better understanding the health of our planet in the midst of a climate crisis, ants may be the unlikely heroes. A team of scientists, including those from NASA, have found a way to estimate the depth of snow using ants.

One member of the team is Yongxiang Hu from NASA's Langley Research Center who drew inspiration from physics and biology to create a unique snow depth model. A previously developed model found that the average time an ant walks around inside the colony is four times the volume of the colony divided by its surface area.

Photon moves like ants.

I studied the properties of clouds and learned light bounces from cloud particles. Hu thought that the ants theory might apply to snow since it comes from clouds.

A photon of light from a lidar instrument enters the snow and is scattered as it meets the snow particles until it exits and is detected by the telescope on ICESat-2.

The researchers found that it was possible to measure the average distance a photon traveled in the snow by applying a special model simulation to verify an equation similar to one used to estimate how far an ant may travel in a colony. The snow depth was half the average distance traveled inside the snow.

The indissoluble bond between ice and snow.

ICESat-2 was launched to determine the depth of the snow and sea ice. It has been difficult to measure snow depth because it requires consolidation of lidar with microwave measurements.

Scientists can get a clearer picture of how the climate crisis is affecting sea ice thickness and glaciers over land with this new innovation.

Snowpack provides water resources over many regions, including the western US, and parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Snow depth and snow density are important for water resource management.

Will the snows decline?

Snow helps keep the planet cool by reflecting the Sun's energy back into space. Less snow on the ground means less global warming.

Climate models consistently predict an increase in global rainfall of anywhere between 3% and 7%, but estimating how snowfalls may decline in mid-latitude regions as a result of global warming is much more complex. This is where the new technique will make a difference.

Hu worked with other scientists at NASA, the University of Arizona, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Ball Aerospace and hopes climate scientists will adopt snow properties derived from this robust physics-based technique to make their forecasts.

The design of the next generation of satellites specifically for snow depth is being worked on by Hu.

More information: Yongxiang Hu et al, Deriving Snow Depth From ICESat-2 Lidar Multiple Scattering Measurements, Frontiers in Remote Sensing (2022). DOI: 10.3389/frsen.2022.855159 Journal information: Frontiers in Remote Sensing Citation: Method used to track ants underground could revolutionize how we measure snow depth from space (2022, May 18) retrieved 18 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-method-track-ants-underground-revolutionize.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.