Temporospatial variability of snow's thermal conductivity on Arctic sea ice

Macfarlane, Amy R.; Löwe, Henning; Gimenes, Lucille; Wagner, David N.; Dadic, Ruzica; Ottersberg, Rafael; Hämmerle, Stefan; Schneebeli, Martin

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5417-2023

Articles | Volume 17, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5417-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5417-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 12

Research article

|

19 Dec 2023

Research article |

| 19 Dec 2023

Temporospatial variability of snow's thermal conductivity on Arctic sea ice

Amy R. Macfarlane, Henning Löwe, Lucille Gimenes, David N. Wagner, Ruzica Dadic, Rafael Ottersberg, Stefan Hämmerle, and Martin Schneebeli

Data sets

MicroCT density and specific surface area snowpit profiles during the MOSAiC expedition. Amy R. Macfarlane et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.952794

Radiation instruments on Ice (ICERADRIIHIMAKI) L. Riihimaki https://doi.org/10.5439/1608608

10 m (m) meteorological flux tower measurements (Level 1 Raw), Multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the study of arctic climate (MOSAiC), central Arctic, October 2019-September 2020 Christopher Cox et al. https://doi.org/10.18739/A2VM42Z5F

Short summary

Snow acts as an insulating blanket on Arctic sea ice, keeping the underlying ice "warm", relative to the atmosphere. Knowing the snow's thermal conductivity is essential for understanding winter ice growth. During the MOSAiC expedition, we measured the thermal conductivity of snow. We found spatial and vertical variability to overpower any temporal variability or dependency on underlying ice type and the thermal resistance to be directly influenced by snow height.