Snowsense
A lightweight snowdepth sensor that measures temperature profile through the snowpack.Built for harsh mountain conditions.
In use in Iceland and Norway
A growing network of SM4 snow sensors and sea sensors monitors avalanche terrain, mountain roads and fish farms around the clock. Users include the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration.
SM4 AVALANCHE MONITORING SYSTEM
Light enough to carry - Tough enough to stay.
SM4 is a lightweight snow sensor developed by POLS Engineering in Iceland. It's designed to be carried up a mountain and installed in a single day without special machinery. The base and mast are light and built for harsh mountain conditions.
How SM4 worksTHE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND SM4
Precise measurements, delivered in real time
At the core of SM4 is a temperature cable with 16 or 26 sensors at 20 cm intervals that runs through the snowpack, giving accurate temperature readings at multiple depths simultaneously.
Temperature profile
16 or 26 sensors, 20 cm apart, read the temperature at every level of the snowpack at once.
Snow depth
A laser measures snow depth directly, and the temperature cable gives a second, independent estimate.
Off-grid
A solar panel and battery keep SM4 running all winter. No power line needed.
Real-time data
New data every 10 minutes over LTE-M or NB-IoT. View it on snowsense.is or pull it into your own systems with our REST API.
Data Analysis and Dashboard
The data from the SM4 sensors are analyzed and plotted on charts on the dashboard. Temperature gradient, sphericity and snowdepth are calculated from the temperature data. The SNOWPACK model has been integrated for all sensors.
Go to Live data
Sea sensors
The same technology, under water. Our sea sensors measure temperature from the surface down to 15 m, so fish farms can track conditions around the clock.
About the sea sensorDesigned by a snow observer
POLS Engineering designs and builds SM4 sensors in Ísafjörður, in Iceland's Westfjords. Our founder worked as a snow observer and saw first-hand how costly, risky and slow it was to install snow sensors. SM4 was built to fix that.
Our story
Contact us
If you have any questions or need help, don’t hesitate to contact us at orn@snowsense.is.
Contact us