SINTERING AND COMPACTION OF SNOW CONTAINING LIQUID WATER

The compaction of snow containing meltwater was described earlier as a pressure-melting phenomenon. That model is improved by introducing simultaneous grain growth, ice creep, and double charged layers at the inter-particle contacts. For stressed wet snow, calculations are now presented of the temperature distribution, heat flow, melting and creep at stressed contacts, meltwater flow, impurity flow, electrostatic forces, contact growth and density. Two sets of experimental results are reported and are shown to compare favourably with computed results. The decreasing compressibility of wet snow with decreasing liquid content, increasing salinity and increasing grain size are quantified and explained. The electrostatic forces between the particles are shown to be significant at low salinities. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.