Determination of snow depth by GPS signal to noise ratio

GPS technology provides precise data for many geodetic studies such as monitoring the tectonic activities, deformation analysis, high-precision point positioning. For high-accuracy analysis of the data to be used in these studies, the multipath effect should be eliminated from the GPS signals. As a general definition, a satellite emitted signal arrives at the receiver by more than one path is so called multipath. This multipath is usually caused by reflection surfaces around the receiver. Thus, satellite signals reach the receiver by following direct and indirect paths. In geodetic studies, where precise positioning is required, multipath is an undesirable effect and should be removed from measurements. However, recent studies have shown that these unwanted GPS signals, which are reflected from different surfaces around GPS receiver, can be used to retrieval information of the reflecting surface such as snow depth, soil moisture content, sea level change with GPS interferometric reflectometry technique. In this study, it is aimed to determine snow depth from GPS multipath data. For this purpose, 1-year GPS data of the AB33 located in Alaska station for the period of 1 January 2015-31 December 2015 was used and 1-year snow depth variations including seasonal changes were investigated