Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow
International audience Water vapor transport in dry snowpacks plays a significant role for snow metamorphism and the mass and energy balance of snowpacks. The molecular diffusion of water vapor in the interstitial pores is usually considered to be the main or only transport mechanism, and current de...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897/file/129-FourteauDiffTC2021.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:10670/1.j3vt1h 2023-05-15T18:32:10+02:00 Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow Fourteau, Kévin Domine, Florent Hagenmuller, Pascal Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM) Météo France-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Laval Québec (ULaval) 2021-01-28 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897/file/129-FourteauDiffTC2021.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897 en eng HAL CCSD Copernicus hal-03427897 doi:10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 10670/1.j3vt1h https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897/file/129-FourteauDiffTC2021.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897 Hyper Article en Ligne - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société ISSN: 1994-0424 EISSN: 1994-0416 The Cryosphere The Cryosphere, Copernicus 2021, 15 (1), pp.389 - 406. ⟨10.5194/tc-15-389-2021⟩ geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 2023-01-22T17:03:04Z International audience Water vapor transport in dry snowpacks plays a significant role for snow metamorphism and the mass and energy balance of snowpacks. The molecular diffusion of water vapor in the interstitial pores is usually considered to be the main or only transport mechanism, and current detailed snow physics models therefore rely on the knowledge of the effective diffusion coefficient of water vapor in snow. Numerous previous studies have concluded that water vapor diffusion in snow is enhanced relative to that in air. Various field observations also indicate that for vapor transport in snow to be explained by diffusion alone, the effective diffusion coefficient should be larger than that in air. Here we show using theory and numerical simulations of idealized and measured snow microstructures that, although sublimation and deposition of water vapor onto snow crystal surfaces do enhance microscopic diffusion in the pore space, this effect is more than countered by the restriction of diffusion space due to ice. The interaction of water vapor with the ice results in water vapor diffusing more than inert molecules in snow but still less than in free air, regardless of the value of the sticking coefficient of water molecules on ice. Our results imply that processes other than diffusion play a predominant role in water vapor transport in dry snowpacks. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Unknown The Cryosphere 15 1 389 406 |
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geo envir Fourteau, Kévin Domine, Florent Hagenmuller, Pascal Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
International audience Water vapor transport in dry snowpacks plays a significant role for snow metamorphism and the mass and energy balance of snowpacks. The molecular diffusion of water vapor in the interstitial pores is usually considered to be the main or only transport mechanism, and current detailed snow physics models therefore rely on the knowledge of the effective diffusion coefficient of water vapor in snow. Numerous previous studies have concluded that water vapor diffusion in snow is enhanced relative to that in air. Various field observations also indicate that for vapor transport in snow to be explained by diffusion alone, the effective diffusion coefficient should be larger than that in air. Here we show using theory and numerical simulations of idealized and measured snow microstructures that, although sublimation and deposition of water vapor onto snow crystal surfaces do enhance microscopic diffusion in the pore space, this effect is more than countered by the restriction of diffusion space due to ice. The interaction of water vapor with the ice results in water vapor diffusing more than inert molecules in snow but still less than in free air, regardless of the value of the sticking coefficient of water molecules on ice. Our results imply that processes other than diffusion play a predominant role in water vapor transport in dry snowpacks. |
author2 |
Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM) Météo France-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Laval Québec (ULaval) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fourteau, Kévin Domine, Florent Hagenmuller, Pascal |
author_facet |
Fourteau, Kévin Domine, Florent Hagenmuller, Pascal |
author_sort |
Fourteau, Kévin |
title |
Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
title_short |
Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
title_full |
Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
title_fullStr |
Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
title_full_unstemmed |
Macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
title_sort |
macroscopic water vapor diffusion is not enhanced in snow |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897/file/129-FourteauDiffTC2021.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
Hyper Article en Ligne - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société ISSN: 1994-0424 EISSN: 1994-0416 The Cryosphere The Cryosphere, Copernicus 2021, 15 (1), pp.389 - 406. ⟨10.5194/tc-15-389-2021⟩ |
op_relation |
hal-03427897 doi:10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 10670/1.j3vt1h https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897/file/129-FourteauDiffTC2021.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03427897 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-389-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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15 |
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1 |
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389 |
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406 |
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