snow sensors and mobile technology has been piloted here by telecom firm telenor and the university of svalbardy, there was little of the white stuff around when we visited, but this device helps measure the changing snow depth more accurately. several of these stations have been placed around the valley to collect real—time data. we have an ultrasonic transducer that emits a sound signal at a very high frequency. that travels from the transducer down to the ground. then it comes back up to the transducer again, and then we measure the time of the sound back and forth. it's a simple, low cost solution and the long—lasting battery keeps it working year—round, even in extreme cold — whereas previous equipment was expensive and used up lots of power sending the data. this particular sensor, it can last for more than ten years on one battery change. we are also optimising the whole system for using as little power as possible. all that data is recorded and transmitted every ten minutes using a narrow bandwidth over the ag network. what do you do with that bundle of data that you gather? the data is