snowprofileInstabilitySigns {sarp.snowprofile}

Constructor for a snowprofileInstabilitySigns object

Description

Create a snowprofileInstabilitySigns object. Instability signs can for example be whumpfs, cracking, natural avalanches, skier accidental release, ski cutting, etc. For more information, see Canadian Avalanche Association. (2016). Observation Guidelines and Recording Standards for Weather, Snowpack, and Avalanches. Revelstoke, BC, Canada.

Usage

snowprofileInstabilitySigns(
  signsFrame = data.frame(type = as.character(NA), present = as.character(NA), comment =
    as.character(NA)),
  dropNAs = TRUE
)

Arguments

signsFrame

a data.frame listing snowpack stability signs. Rows correspond to individual observations of instability signs and columns describe at least the fields c("type", "present").

• type: Sc, Sa, Na, whumpf, crack, ...

• present: Was the instability sign present (TRUE), not present (FALSE), or unknown (NA), for example

  • natural avalanches occurred (i.e., Na TRUE), did not occur (i.e., Na FALSE), no observations were carried out (i.e., Na NA)

  • skiing the slope led to an avalanche (i.e., Sa TRUE)

  • ski cutting did not release avalanche (i.e., Sc FALSE)

  • etc

dropNAs

Should empty, non-mandatory columns be dropped from the final snowprofileInstabilitySigns object?

Details

Note: This class might be a temporary solution to digitize instability signs observed in proximity to snowprofiles. The information contained here, might be ported to a more general field observations class that is both independent from snowprofile objects and that is more in line with existing field observation standards.

Value

snowprofileInstabilitySigns object

Author(s)

fherla

See Also

snowprofile, snowprofileLayers, snowprofileTests

Examples

## create a data.frame with instability sign observations
(signsFrame <- data.frame(type = c("Na", "whumpf", "cracking", "Sa"),
                         present = c(FALSE, TRUE, FALSE, FALSE)))

## create snowprofileInstabilitySigns object
instabilitySigns <- snowprofileInstabilitySigns(signsFrame)

## create snowprofile object containing instability signs and check resulting object:
snowprofile(instabilitySigns = instabilitySigns)