SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ALPINE SNOW

One of the great deficiencies in snow science is the lack of an analytical framework for much of the snow cycle. Snow research to date has largely consisted of measuring index properties of snow, such as bulk density and snow strength, and correlating them. This is useful, particularly for engineering purposes but it does not grapple with the basic problem of what fundamental properties of snow determine the magnitude of the index properties and how these properties respond to environmental conditions. This study was an attempt to measure, quantitatively, the fundamental properties of grain size, shape, and fabric (relationship between grains) and relate these to the index or derived properties of bulk density, shear and tensile strength, permeability for air, and the dielectric static permittivity and loss tangent. (Author)