The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
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Articles | Volume 15, issue 6
Articles | Volume 15, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2739-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2739-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 15, issue 6
Research article
 | 
18 Jun 2021
Research article |  | 18 Jun 2021

Impact of water vapor diffusion and latent heat on the effective thermal conductivity of snow

Kévin Fourteau, Florent Domine, and Pascal Hagenmuller

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Short summary
The thermal conductivity of snow is an important physical property governing the thermal regime of a snowpack and its substrate. We show that it strongly depends on the kinetics of water vapor sublimation and that previous experimental data suggest a rather fast kinetics. In such a case, neglecting water vapor leads to an underestimation of thermal conductivity by up to 50 % for light snow. Moreover, the diffusivity of water vapor in snow is then directly related to the thermal conductivity.
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