Snow metamorphism under advective conditions and temperature gradient

Temperature-gradient metamorphism is one of the dominant processes changing the complex microstructure of natural snow. Although many researchers have examined snow metamorphism the mutual effect of a temperature gradient with additional advective flow on snow metamorphism has not yet been investigated. In this study temperature-gradient experiments with saturated advective flow were conducted. Using computer tomography the threedimensional microstructure of five snow samples was assessed non-destructively. The dynamically changing microstructural snow properties namely the porosity and the specific surface area were determined out of the reconstructed snow volume. The experiments were conducted in the cold laboratories of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos Switzerland.