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When it comes to measuring snow cover on the ground, typically three variables are measured: the snow cover extent (SCE) — the land area covered by snow, snow cover duration (SD) — how long a particular area is covered by snow, and the snow accumulation, often expressed as snow water equivalent (SWE), which expresses how much water the snow ...
Most snow studies use a fist or fingers for softer snows (very soft through medium) and a pencil (hard) or knife (very hard) below the hardness boundary of ice. Liquid water content (LWC) (or free-water content) is the amount of water within the snow in the liquid phase from either melt, rain, or both. Measurements are expressed as a volume or ...
The crystals of ice act as seeds to make the water droplets freeze at 0 °C (32 °F). Without these crystals the water would supercool instead of freezing. This method can produce snow when the wet-bulb temperature of the air is as high as −1 °C (30 °F). [11] [12] The lower the air temperature is, the more and the better snow a cannon can ...
As snow in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota begins to melt and flow into the Red River, the presence of downstream ice can act as a dam and force upstream water to rise. Colder temperatures downstream can also potentially lead to freezing of water as it flows north, thus augmenting the ice dam problem.
Once a water droplet has frozen as an ice nucleus, it grows in a supersaturated environment—wherein liquid moisture coexists with ice beyond its equilibrium point at temperatures below freezing. The droplet then grows by deposition of water molecules in the air (vapor) onto the ice crystal surface where they are collected.
Superimposed ice forms on top of the ice surface from rain or water which seeps up through cracks in the ice which often settles when loaded with snow. An ice shove occurs when ice movement, caused by ice expansion and/or wind action, occurs to the extent that ice pushes onto the shores of lakes, often displacing sediment that makes up the ...
[31] [32] Microbial growth, such as snow algae on glaciers and ice algae on sea ice can also cause a snow darkening effect. [33] Melting caused by algae increases the presence of liquid water in snow and ice surfaces, which then stimulates the growth of more snow and ice algae and causes a decrease in albedo, forming a positive feedback. [30]
Snow Depth-This is a measurement from the snow surface to the ground in meters. It is commonly does over a large time span using immobile graduated stakes. Snow Water Equivalency- A measuring tool which represents the vertical depth of water that would accumulate in an area, if all the snow and ice were melted in that given area.