[OSM-dev] GSOC 2010 PROPOSAL

[Sovik Nath]

*MAPPING SNOW DISTRIBUTION FOR TEMPERATE GLACIER*

NAME
Sovik Kumar Nath

EMAIL
*sovikkn at gmail.com* <sovikkn at gmail.com>

LIST OF LANGUAGES KNOWN
C, Matlab, IDRISI, Open office. I had access to licensed software at the
university. But now getting involved in open source development for mapping
and data visualization

CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN
Student, Masters in geography, specializing in cryosphere

PROJECT PROPOSAL
In-situ field measurements of snow depth in a glacier are measured by snow
probing method. The height of the snow probe gives the snow accumulated on
the glacier at the particular point in one season. GPS is used for locating
the point. A number of measurements are taken by snow probe at different
points on the glacier to get an estimate of snow distribution. However these
measurements are at irregular grid. The code aims to convert the the
irregular in-situ field measurements in a regular grid and then map snow
distribution. I made fieldtrip of the glacier and have collected the snow
depth measurements for the year 2010. The snow distribution map will help to
estimate amount of snow accumulated for the current year 2009-2010. When I
model the field data, a better visualization of one year's snow accumulation
on the glacier will be provided.
The utilities of the code are

   -

   visualization and mapping of snow distribution on glacier
   -

   comparison of snow accumulation for different seasons


Origin of idea

I was digitizing maps by clicking points along the contour lines on the
computer screen. For field measurements of snow depth, I was using the snow
probe to measure snow depth at different points. It was a flat glacier.
Effectively what was I doing on the flat computer screen, I was making
similar `digitization` of the snow depth. In the case of field measurements
I was changing the real situation into numerical units. So like topography
map, a digital snow distribution map can be produced.

METHOD
**Plotting in-situ field measurements of snow depth points (GPS x,y and snow
height(H))
Defining a regular grid
Interpolation of the snow depth points to the regular grid points
Defining the glacier boundary by points (GPS x,y,h)
Subtracting the glacier boundary from the grid
Dividing the range of snow height into groups
Snow distribution map by joining the similar group

TIME AVAILABLE TO WORK ON PROJECT
The project is one part of my masters dissertation. I work on the project 3
hours per day

HANDLING SITUATIONS:
I can work alone, need guidance for interpolation component.

HOBBIES
Walking, map reading, geometry
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