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In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many parts of the world, in some cases contributing high fractions of the annual runoff in a watershed.
A heated sidewalk in Holland, Michigan Installation of a geothermal snowmelt system on a street in Reykjavík, Iceland.. A snowmelt system prevents the build-up of snow and ice on cycleways, walkways, patios and roadways, or more economically, only a portion of the area such as a pair of 2-foot (0.61 m)-wide tire tracks on a driveway or a 3-foot (0.91 m) center portion of a sidewalk, etc.
Snow density (ρ s) is the mass per unit volume of snow of a known volume, calculated as kg/m 3. Classification runs from very fine at below 0.2 mm to very coarse (2.0–5.0 mm) and beyond. Snow hardness (R) is the resistance to penetration of an object into snow. Most snow studies use a fist or fingers for softer snows (very soft through ...
Overview of the cryosphere and its larger components [1]. The cryosphere is an umbrella term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form. This includes sea ice, ice on lakes or rivers, snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost).
Ablation can refer either to the processes removing ice and snow or to the quantity of ice and snow removed. Debris-covered glaciers have also been shown to greatly impact the ablation process. There is a thin debris layer that can be located on the top of glaciers that intensifies the ablation process below the ice.
Deeper snow packs with large snow water equivalents (SWE) are capable of delivering larger quantities of water to rivers and streams, compared to smaller snowpacks, given that they reach adequate melting temperatures. When melting temperatures are reached quickly and snowmelt is rapid, flooding can be more intense. [10]
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.
A snowflake is a single ice crystal that is large enough to fall through the Earth's atmosphere as snow. [1] [2] [3] Snow appears white in color despite being made of clear ice. This is because the many small crystal facets of the snowflakes scatter the sunlight between them. [4]