Laboratory Investigations on the Thermophysical Properties of the Ice-snow Interface While under a Controlled Temperature Gradient
نویسندگان
چکیده
Of critical importance to avalanche forecasting is the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from potentially only a small handful of field observations. With this in mind, our research focuses on the development of a new field metric for estimating the likelihood and rate at which new ice crystal growth and kinetic snow metamorphism may be occurring on or near a buried ice lens or crust that is based solely on the thickness of the ice lens and the field-measurable temperature gradient. While both previous literature and theory predict that the presence of an ice lens can act both as a natural barrier to the diffusion of water vapor in the snowpack and as an interface of differential thermal conductivities, no such direct measurements have ever been successfully made in order to characterize or quantify this presumed effect. Presented here, we have developed a laboratory technique that has allowed us to show via in-situ measurements that a super-temperature gradient of several factors greater than the bulk temperature gradient does indeed exist within a millimeter above and below the surface of an artificially created ice lens when placed between two layers of natural snow and held under a controlled temperature gradient. Additionally, we have also investigated the type of new ice crystal growth and kinetic snow metamorphism that has occurred as a result of such a super-temperature gradient existing near the ice lens/snow interface. For this portion of the research, we have utilized Scanning Electron Microscopy for the characterization of ice crystal type and time-lapse X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography to quantify the rates of change in the parameters of interest related to kinetic snow metamorphism, such as the specific surface area and mean grain diameter.
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