A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction
Snow densification stores water in alpine regions and transforms snow into ice on the surface of glaciers. Despite its importance in determining snow-water equivalent and glacier-induced sea level rise, we still lack a complete understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying snow compaction. In...
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2020
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 https://doaj.org/article/1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b 2023-05-15T18:32:29+02:00 A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction C. R. Meyer K. M. Keegan I. Baker R. L. Hawley 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 https://doaj.org/article/1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1449/2020/tc-14-1449-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1449-1458 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 2022-12-31T16:05:22Z Snow densification stores water in alpine regions and transforms snow into ice on the surface of glaciers. Despite its importance in determining snow-water equivalent and glacier-induced sea level rise, we still lack a complete understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying snow compaction. In essence, compaction is a rheological process, where the rheology evolves with depth due to variation in temperature, pressure, humidity, and meltwater. The rheology of snow compaction can be determined in a few ways, for example, through empirical investigations (e.g., Herron and Langway, 1980), by microstructural considerations (e.g., Alley, 1987), or by measuring the rheology directly, which is the approach we take here. Using a <q>French-press</q> or <q>cafetière-à-piston</q> compression stage, Wang and Baker (2013) compressed numerous snow samples of different densities. Here we derive a mixture theory for compaction and airflow through the porous snow to compare against these experimental data. We find that a plastic compaction law explains experimental results. Taking standard forms for the permeability and effective pressure as functions of the porosity, we show that this compaction mode persists for a range of densities and overburden loads. These findings suggest that measuring compaction in the lab is a promising direction for determining the rheology of snow through its many stages of densification. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Langway ENVELOPE(-139.783,-139.783,-75.483,-75.483) The Cryosphere 14 5 1449 1458 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 C. R. Meyer K. M. Keegan I. Baker R. L. Hawley A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Snow densification stores water in alpine regions and transforms snow into ice on the surface of glaciers. Despite its importance in determining snow-water equivalent and glacier-induced sea level rise, we still lack a complete understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying snow compaction. In essence, compaction is a rheological process, where the rheology evolves with depth due to variation in temperature, pressure, humidity, and meltwater. The rheology of snow compaction can be determined in a few ways, for example, through empirical investigations (e.g., Herron and Langway, 1980), by microstructural considerations (e.g., Alley, 1987), or by measuring the rheology directly, which is the approach we take here. Using a <q>French-press</q> or <q>cafetière-à-piston</q> compression stage, Wang and Baker (2013) compressed numerous snow samples of different densities. Here we derive a mixture theory for compaction and airflow through the porous snow to compare against these experimental data. We find that a plastic compaction law explains experimental results. Taking standard forms for the permeability and effective pressure as functions of the porosity, we show that this compaction mode persists for a range of densities and overburden loads. These findings suggest that measuring compaction in the lab is a promising direction for determining the rheology of snow through its many stages of densification. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. R. Meyer K. M. Keegan I. Baker R. L. Hawley |
author_facet |
C. R. Meyer K. M. Keegan I. Baker R. L. Hawley |
author_sort |
C. R. Meyer |
title |
A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
title_short |
A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
title_full |
A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
title_fullStr |
A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
title_full_unstemmed |
A model for French-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
title_sort |
model for french-press experiments of dry snow compaction |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 https://doaj.org/article/1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-139.783,-139.783,-75.483,-75.483) |
geographic |
Langway |
geographic_facet |
Langway |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1449-1458 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1449/2020/tc-14-1449-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/1e99245fa3bf4b1a9a8f5134230b393b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1449-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1449 |
op_container_end_page |
1458 |
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1766216595905970176 |