Flow fingers and ice columns in a cold snow cover

TitleFlow fingers and ice columns in a cold snow cover
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Conference1988
AuthorsMarsh, P.
Conference Name56th Annual Western Snow Conference
Series TitleProceedings of the 56th Annual Western Snow Conference
Date PublishedApril 1988
PublisherWestern Snow Conference
Conference LocationKalispell, Montana
KeywordsSnow melt, Snow metamorphism, Water flux in snow
Abstract

When melt water infiltrates into a dry snow cover, the wetting front does not move uniformly into the snow. Instead, it breaks up into well defined flow fingers. These flow fingers are there since they allow water to move rapidly into the snow-pack without wetting the entire snow cover. As a result, melt water may reach the snow-pack base well before the entire pack is wet and isothermal at 0 degrees C. An understanding of these processes is essential in order to predict melt water run-off. These flow fingers are very difficult to study under normal situations. They are often short lived, they are not easy to see visually in a snow pit, and they are not easily studied with remote instrumentation. However, if the snow is sufficiently cold, enough water will freeze to block all the snow pores, with ice columns the final result. Because these features are easy to locate, they provide an exellent method to study the natural movement of water into the dry snowcover. Field work carried out in the Mackenzie Delta, N.W.T., in 1986 and 1987 provided excellent observations of the formation of ice columns. This work has important implications to snow metamorphism processes in both warm and cold snow covers, and therefore to the modeling of snow-melt runoff.

URLsites/westernsnowconference.org/PDFs/1988Marsh.pdf