Articles | Volume 20, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2923-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2923-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
21 May 2026
Research article |
| 21 May 2026
| 21 May 2026
Simulating liquid water distribution at the pore scale in snow: water retention curves and effective transport properties
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Centre d’Études de la Neige, 38000 Grenoble, France
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, 3SR, Grenoble, France
Nicolas Allet
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Centre d’Études de la Neige, 38000 Grenoble, France
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, 3SR, Grenoble, France
Neige Calonne
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Centre d’Études de la Neige, 38000 Grenoble, France
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Centre d’Études de la Neige, 38000 Grenoble, France
Christian Geindreau
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, 3SR, Grenoble, France
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Short summary
A quasi-static model is used to simulate the distribution of liquid water in the pore space of snow for various water contents. Liquid water is gradually introduced and then removed from a set of 34 3D tomography snow images by capillarity during wetting and drying simulations. This work constitutes an exploratory numerical work (i) to study the water retention curves and (ii) the effective transport properties of wet snow and how they are influenced by the water distribution at the pore scale.
A quasi-static model is used to simulate the distribution of liquid water in the pore space of...
