The Sintering Process in Snow

The growth of bonds between snow grains or ice spheres has been variously attributed to surface diffusion, volume diffusion, and evaporation–condensation. To distinguish among these possible mechanisms the unconfined compressive strength of two groups of snow samples was determined as a function of time. One group was allowed to sinter under atmospheric conditions while the other group was kept immersed in silicone oil. The much lower rate of strengthening of the latter group suggests that evaporation–condensation must be the major mechanism of mass transport in snow under atmospheric conditions. The possible magnitudes of the various mass transfer coefficients are discussed.