Snowcover: Physics and Modelling

• 651-1504-00L Snowcover: Physics and Modelling

Frühjahrssemester 2012  - jährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung

Dozierende

M. C. Schneebeli, H. Löwe

Lernziel

The lecture teaches the physical properties of snow and students learn about processes in and above the snow cover and the significance of snow as a seasonal or permanent land surface.
In particular, the basic properties of snow on macroscopic and microscopic scales are treated as required for a quantitative understanding of phenomena in various disciplines of cryospheric science.
The students understand the processes that lead to the build-up of a stratified snow cover and learn about processes such as metamorphism, densification, heat and mass transfer and their relevance for the transformation of snow and firn.

The students get to know traditional and advanced experimental methods to characterize the snowpack and learn about basic theoretical concepts to describe the processes associated with snow. Possibilities and limitations of current experimental and theoretical concepts are pointed out by discussing current research questions in the field.

Inhalt

- Characteristics and properties of snow
- Basic ice physics, snow mechanics and constitutive laws
- Measurement methods
- Energy- and mass fluxes in snow
- Recrystallization, snow microstructure and metamorphism
- Energy- and mass fluxes at the snow surface
- Wind transport of snow and influence of topography
- Electromagnetic (in particular optical) snow properties
- Snow as a sediment
- Artificial snow
- Modeling of snow