GPS Receiver Noise Can Be Used To Detect Snow Depth

cremeglace writes "Scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder have found a use for GPS besides finding restaurants or the occasional road-that-doesn't-exist: it can be used to measure snow depth. The new technique, which takes advantage of distortions of the GPS signal after it reflects off the snowpack, may potentially improve weather forecasts by allowing meteorologists to track snowfall patterns. ScienceNOW has the story, which one geophysicist describes as 'a classical case of one person's noise becoming another person's signal.'"

A classical case?

[roothog]

Seems like a pretty modern example, unless, say, the Romans had GPS.

So, we've discovered

[idontgno]

satellite radar altimetry. [altimetry.info]

Of course, it's accidental radar altimetry, rather than a dedicated instrument. Neat hack.