Specific surface area (SSA) and thickness distribution measured during X-ray microtomographic observations of wet-snow metamorphism in a cold laboratory, link to Zip archive

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Main Authors: Avanzi, Francesco, Petrucci, Giacomo, Matzl, Margret, Schneebeli, Martin, De Michele, Carlo
Format: Dataset Open Access
Language:en
Published: PANGAEA 2017
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author Avanzi, Francesco
Petrucci, Giacomo
Matzl, Margret
Schneebeli, Martin
De Michele, Carlo
author_facet Avanzi, Francesco
Petrucci, Giacomo
Matzl, Margret
Schneebeli, Martin
De Michele, Carlo
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents We performed X-ray microtomographic observations of wet-snow metamorphism during controlled continuous melting and melt-freeze events in the laboratory. Three blocks of snow were sieved into boxes and subjected to cyclic, superficial heating or heating-cooling to reproduce vertical water infiltration patterns in snow similarly to natural conditions. Periodically, samples were taken at different heights and scanned. Results suggest that wet-snow metamorphism dynamics are highly heterogeneous even in an initially homogeneous snowpack. Consistent with previous work, we observed an increase with time in the thickness of the ice structure, which is a measure of grain size. However, this was coupled with large temporal scatter between consecutive measurements of the specific surface area and of the statistical moments of grain thickness distributions. Because of marked differences in the right tail, grain thickness distributions did not show shape invariance with time, contrary to previous analyses. In our experiments, wet-snow metamorphism showed two strikingly different patterns: homogeneous coarsening superimposed by faster heterogeneous coarsening in areas that were affected by preferential percolation of water. Liquid water movement in snow and fast structural evolution may be thus intrinsically coupled by early formation of preferential flow at local scale. These observations suggest that further experiments are highly needed to fully understand wet-snow metamorphism and infiltration patterns in a natural snowpack.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_874393
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2017
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Specific surface area (SSA) and thickness distribution measured during X-ray microtomographic observations of wet-snow metamorphism in a cold laboratory, link to Zip archive
Avanzi, Francesco
Petrucci, Giacomo
Matzl, Margret
Schneebeli, Martin
De Michele, Carlo

We performed X-ray microtomographic observations of wet-snow metamorphism during controlled continuous melting and melt-freeze events in the laboratory. Three blocks of snow were sieved into boxes and subjected to cyclic, superficial heating or heating-cooling to reproduce vertical water infiltration patterns in snow similarly to natural conditions. Periodically, samples were taken at different heights and scanned. Results suggest that wet-snow metamorphism dynamics are highly heterogeneous even in an initially homogeneous snowpack. Consistent with previous work, we observed an increase with time in the thickness of the ice structure, which is a measure of grain size. However, this was coupled with large temporal scatter between consecutive measurements of the specific surface area and of the statistical moments of grain thickness distributions. Because of marked differences in the right tail, grain thickness distributions did not show shape invariance with time, contrary to previous analyses. In our experiments, wet-snow metamorphism showed two strikingly different patterns: homogeneous coarsening superimposed by faster heterogeneous coarsening in areas that were affected by preferential percolation of water. Liquid water movement in snow and fast structural evolution may be thus intrinsically coupled by early formation of preferential flow at local scale. These observations suggest that further experiments are highly needed to fully understand wet-snow metamorphism and infiltration patterns in a natural snowpack.
title Specific surface area (SSA) and thickness distribution measured during X-ray microtomographic observations of wet-snow metamorphism in a cold laboratory, link to Zip archive
topic
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.874393