Modeling the evolution of the structural anisotropy of snow ...
The structural anisotropy of snow characterizes the spatially anisotropic distribution of the ice and air microstructure and is a key parameter for improving parameterizations of physical properties. To enable the use of the anisotropy in snowpack models as an internal variable, we propose a simple...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ETH Zurich
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000393988 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/393988 |
| Summary: | The structural anisotropy of snow characterizes the spatially anisotropic distribution of the ice and air microstructure and is a key parameter for improving parameterizations of physical properties. To enable the use of the anisotropy in snowpack models as an internal variable, we propose a simple model based on a rate equation for the temporal evolution. The model is validated with a comprehensive set of anisotropy profiles and time series from X-ray microtomography (CT) and radar measurements. The model includes two effects, namely temperature gradient metamorphism and settling, and can be forced by any snowpack model that predicts temperature and density. First, we use CT time series from lab experiments to validate the proposed effect of temperature gradient metamorphism. Next, we use SNOWPACK simulations to calibrate the model with radar time series from the NoSREx campaigns in Sodankylä, Finland. Finally we compare the simulated anisotropy profiles against field-measured full-depth CT profiles. Our ... : The Cryosphere, 14 (1) ... |
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