Depth-hoar crystal growth in the surface layer under high temperature gradient

Abstract

The quick growth of depth-hoar crystals was observed at night-time just below the snow surface on a south-facing slope. This growth was due to a high temperature gradient (> 100 K m −1 ) near the snow surface under clear skies after a thin deposition of new snow on older and denser snow. The temperature gradient was greater when internal melting had taken place during daytime, keeping the sub-surface snow temperature at 0°C even after sunset until all liquid water had frozen. To understand the relationship between the crystal growth rate and the temperature gradient, a series of experiments was carried out in the laboratory. The snow sample was set under a constant temperature gradient between 100 and 300 K m − and sustained for about 50 h. The average crystal size increased linearly with time and the crystal growth rate increased as the given temperature gradient increased. The growth rates were in the order of 10 −9 m s −1 , which gave a good agreement with the results of the field observation.