Winter ice roads and bridges are a common transportation link in the northern regions of Canada, Alaska, Europe and Russia. With changes in climatic conditions and increasing concern about safety, demands for reliable ice thickness information are rising. Many transportation and labour departments are beginning to regulate allowable loads on winter roads based on ice thickness.
Sensors & Software's IceMap system delivers ice thickness in a readily used and practical form. The IceMap sensor, transported across the ice surface via truck, snowmobile or by hand, delivers ice thickness data in real-time. Data are presented as cross-sectional images on the display and as numerical values of ice thickness. The display is commonly mounted in a vehicle cab so the driver has a view of the ice thickness at all times. Rapid data acquisition enables the unit to be towed at speeds up to 80 km per hour.
The IceMap real-time display presents the sensor data in graphical form and shows the automatically detected bottom of the ice (blue line) in real time. Users can set a minimum thickness warning threshold (gold line).
Select the IceMap Base or SmartTow configuration. The SmartTow configuration provides a totally integrated turnkey solution while the Base configuration provides the components needed to craft custom installations. Both configurations provide the same friendly user interface for monitoring data and integrating coring information for precise ice property calibration. Data are logged in digital form for export. Post acquisition reporting delivers tabulated results needed for safety reports. Data collected with georeferenced information (GPS) provides graphical displays of ice thickness on a variety of GIS platforms or Google Earth.