Brief communication "Application of mobile laser scanning in snow cover profiling"

Abstract. We present a snowmobile-based mobile mapping system and its first application to snow cover roughness and change detection measurement. The ROAMER mobile mapping system, constructed at the Finnish Geodetic Institute, consists of the positioning and navigating systems, a terrestrial laser scanner, and the carrying platform (a snowmobile sledge in this application). We demonstrate the applicability of the instrument to snow cover roughness profiling and change detection by presenting preliminary results from a mobile laser scanning (MLS) campaign. The results show the potential of MLS for fast and efficient snow profiling from large areas in a millimetre scale.