whirrwork

Environmental & Conservation

Polar, glacier & volcano surveys

Short answer Published prices for polar, glacier & volcano surveys run €1,500–€4,500 per mission (2 prices from 1 source, France; newest dated Sep 22, 2026). Every receipt is below.

Drones and robots surveying ice, volcanoes and extreme environments.

People ask for this as: “volcano drone survey”, “glacier drone”

Quick facts

Typical published range
€1,500–€4,500 per mission
Price receipts
2 prices from 1 source
Who does it
4 providers, 3 sell it as a service
Where
2 countries with a local provider: 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇮🇸 Iceland

Last updated · Cite this page

How it works

Robots used

  • Drone

Ways to buy it

  • Service — you pay for the outcome (one inspection, one show, X acres).
  • Purchase Buy the robot (plus software and service plans, usually).

Bot or Not?

A robot makes sense when…

  • The job is high, dangerous, or hard to reach
  • It is huge or repetitive (acres, nights, square metres)
  • You need data you will compare over time
  • You need eyes on it right now

Hire a human when…

  • It is small, low and one-off
  • It needs hands, judgement or a repair
  • Weather, permits or timing make robots awkward
  • Nobody has defined the job yet

Here's the catch for this job

  • Partner with local conservation groups who may already have data.
  • Thermal surveys work best at dawn.

Rules of thumb, not a sales pitch. Take the Ladder Test →

What it costs

Published ranges, each with a receipt. Not quotes: your price depends on scope, location and date. older price = 18+ months.

EUR / missionlinear scale · 2 receipts
  1. One-off drone photogrammetry mission on a glacier or high-mountain site (1 day) (C-DRONE price guide, France, observed 2026 range, excl. VAT) · FR€1,500–€3,500c-drone.fr · Sep 22, 2026
  2. Post-eruption drone photogrammetry over a restricted area under 50 ha (orthophoto + DSM) (C-DRONE price guide, France, observed 2026 range, excl. VAT) · FR€2,000–€4,500c-drone.fr · Sep 22, 2026
All 2 receipts as a table
WhatRangeUnitRegionReceipt
One-off drone photogrammetry mission on a glacier or high-mountain site (1 day) (C-DRONE price guide, France, observed 2026 range, excl. VAT)€1,500–€3,500/ missionFRc-drone.fr
as of Sep 22, 2026
Post-eruption drone photogrammetry over a restricted area under 50 ha (orthophoto + DSM) (C-DRONE price guide, France, observed 2026 range, excl. VAT)€2,000–€4,500/ missionFRc-drone.fr
as of Sep 22, 2026

Dataset: Polar, glacier & volcano surveys price receipts (Whirrwork). 2 published prices for polar, glacier & volcano surveys, each with its source link and as-of date. Old observations are kept, never overwritten. JSON · history JSON · all downloads · CC BY 4.0

Follow price changes for this job Atom feed: one entry per new or changed price, with its receipt. All feeds

Price history

Only one observation per series so far: we started recording every price on 2026-10-25 and re-check every source on a schedule. A trend appears when a re-checked source shows a different price (we never overwrite old observations).

SeriesLatestObservationsObservedTrendReceipt
One-off drone photogrammetry mission on a glacier or high-mountain site (1 day) (C-DRONE…€1,500–€3,500 / mission1Oct 25, 2026—c-drone.fr
Post-eruption drone photogrammetry over a restricted area under 50 ha (orthophoto + DSM)…€2,000–€4,500 / mission1Oct 25, 2026—c-drone.fr

Append-only: we never overwrite a recorded price. JSON: /api/prices/history?use_case=glacier-ice-survey

What to specify and ask

Put these in your request and you'll get a real price instead of "it depends":

  1. Glacier location and area
  2. Measurements (thickness, velocity, elevation change)
  3. Survey area and location
  4. Target species or parameter
  5. Season/date
  6. Deliverables (counts, maps, samples)
  7. Permits held

Rules and regulation

Wildlife disturbance rules, protected area permits and aviation rules apply.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change; ask the operator which permits they hold and verify them.

Providers who do this

Filters by headquarters or published service area.

SPH Engineering

🇱🇻 LV Serves global

Latvian developer of Drone Show Software and UgCS mission-planning software; also supplies drone GPR for glacier, snow and ice studies.

  • Purchase
  • Public quote page
  • 4 jobs
  • Oct 25, 2026

Svarmi

🇮🇸 IS Serves IS, global

Icelandic drone-data company (data collection, DATACT processing platform) whose imagery is used to map lava-defence barriers and monitor the…

  • Service
  • 2 jobs
  • Oct 25, 2026

Earth Scan

🇨🇦 CA Serves CA, global

Canadian geophysics firm using ground and drone-based GPR; projects include glacier ice-thickness mapping in northwest British Columbia and utility…

  • Service
  • 2 jobs
  • Oct 25, 2026

Black Swift Technologies

🇺🇸 US Serves global

US maker of the Black Swift S2 fixed-wing UAS for harsh-environment science, flown BVLOS over active volcanoes (e.g. Makushin, Alaska) with gas…

  • Purchase
  • Service
  • 2 jobs
  • Oct 25, 2026

Questions buyers ask

How much does polar, glacier & volcano surveys cost?

Published prices for polar, glacier & volcano surveys run €1,500–€4,500 per mission (2 prices from 1 source, France; newest dated Sep 22, 2026). Every receipt is below.

Who offers polar, glacier & volcano surveys near me?

We list 4 providers for polar, glacier & volcano surveys. 2 countries have at least one provider whose own site says it works there; the most covered are Canada (1) and Iceland (1). 4 providers say they work worldwide. Pick your country on this page to see who serves it, local first.

What should I put in a quote request?

Start with glacier location and area; measurements (thickness, velocity, elevation change); survey area and location. The full checklist has 7 items, and a request that covers them gets a real price instead of "it depends".

Do I actually need a robot for this?

Not always. If a competent person with a ladder could do it in an afternoon, hire the person (the Ladder Test). Here's the catch for this job: Partner with local conservation groups who may already have data.

Are there rules or permits?

Wildlife disturbance rules, protected area permits and aviation rules apply. More on rules (a summary, not legal advice).

Cite this page

Whirrwork. "Polar, glacier & volcano surveys: cost, how it works & providers." Last updated 2026-10-25. https://whirrwork.com/use-cases/glacier-ice-survey/. CC BY 4.0.

BibTeX
@misc{whirrwork_glacier_ice_survey,
  title = {Polar, glacier \& volcano surveys: cost, how it works \& providers},
  author = {{Whirrwork}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://whirrwork.com/use-cases/glacier-ice-survey/},
  note = {Last updated 2026-10-25. CC BY 4.0. Prices link to their original sources.}
}

Quoting a price? Cite its original source too (linked in the table). We're the index, not the origin. Add the date you read this page.

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