Water Flow through Veins in Ice

• Main Author: Colbeck,Samuel C.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1976
• Subjects: Hydrology; Limnology and Potamology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *WATER FLOW; *ICE; *RUNOFF; *GLACIERS; PRESSURE GRADIENTS; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; PERMEABILITY; POROSITY; FLOW RATE; SNOW COVER; PORE PRESSURE; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA026631; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA026631

Water flow through the vein structure of temperature ice is described as Darcian flow in which the pressure gradient is determined from vein size and overburden pressure. A solution method for the resulting equation is given and two special cases are considered. For steady flow the equilibrium vein size is a function of depth and, by neglecting the effects of diffusion, it is shown that flow perturbations introduced at the surface propagate downward at a constant speed. These perturbations propagate so slowly that even annual surface fluctuations of flow may be eliminated by diffusion before reaching the bottom of the glacier.