TY  - JOUR
AU  - Domine Florent, Bock Josu
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Linking the effective thermal conductivity of snow to its shear strength and density
JO  - J. Geophys. Res.
SP  - F04027-
VL  - 116
IS  - F4
PB  - AGU
KW  - avalanche
KW  - shear strength
KW  - snow
KW  - thermal conductivity
KW  - 0736 Cryosphere: Snow (1827
KW  - 1863)
KW  - 0742 Cryosphere: Avalanches (4302)
KW  - 0770 Cryosphere: Properties
KW  - 0776 Cryosphere: Glaciology (1621
KW  - 1827
KW  -
N2  - The effective thermal conductivity of snow, keff, is a crucial climatic and environmental variable. Here, we test the intuition that keff is linked to microstructural and mechanical properties by attempting to relate keff to density ρsnow, and to shear strength σ measured with a handheld shear vane. We performed 106 combined measurements of keff, ρsnow and σ in the Alps, Svalbard, Arctic Alaska, and near the North Pole, covering essentially all snow types. We find a good correlation between keff and ρsnow which is not significantly different from that of Sturm et al. (1997). The correlation between keff and a combination of σ and ρsnow is stronger than with density alone. We propose an equation linking keff, (W m-1 K-1) ρsnow (kg m-3) and σ (Pa): keff = 7.114 10-5 ρsnow σ0.333 + 2.367 10-2. This equation places constraints on the calculation of keff, ρsnow and σ in avalanche warning models where σ is a key variable. For our samples, we calculate σ from measured values of keff and ρsnow using our equation and compare the value to that predicted by the French MEPRA avalanche warning model, which uses density and grain type as input data. MEPRA and the prediction of σ based on keff and ρsnow agree within 8%. MEPRA agrees with observations within 11%. Calculating σ from density only yields values 55% lower than measured, showing the interest of using additional data to predict σ.
SN  - 0148-0227
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JF002000
N1  - exported from refbase (http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/show.php?record=1171), last updated on Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:22:41 +0200
ID  - DomineFlorent2011
ER  -