Frühjahrssemester - jährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung
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.
- 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