Investigation of methods for measuring specific surface area of wet snow

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26560195
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Natural disaster / Disaster prevention science
• Research Institution: National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Yamaguchi Satoru 国立研究開発法人防災科学技術研究所, 観測・予測研究領域 雪氷防災研究センター, 主任研究員 (70425510)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HACHIKUBO AKIHIRO 北見工業大学, 環境・エネルギー研究推進センター, 教授 (50312450)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TANIKAWA TOMONORI 気象庁気象研究所, 気候研究部, 研究官 (20509989) ; TAKEUCHI Yukari 国立研究開発法人森林総合研究所, 気象環境研究領域, チーム長 (90353755)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 湿雪 / 比表面積 / 近赤外域の反射率 / ガス吸着法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The specific surface area (SSA) of snow is defined as its surface area per unit mass or volume. Because the SSA of snow includes information relating to the grain type, grain size, and connections among grains, it is a powerful parameter for quantifying the exchange of matter and energy between the snow and the atmosphere. Additionally, it is also an essential parameter for modeling mass transfer (air or water) in snow cover. Several methods are available to measure the SSA of snow, but they have only been applied to dry snow. In this study, we investigated the methods to measuring wet snow SSA using the linking multi-wavelengths with the difference in light absorption between ice and water. Our results indicated that the near-infrared reflectance (NIR) of snow strongly depends on its water content (θ) and the dependency of NIR on θ chages with its wavelength. These results suggest the potential that wet snow SSA can be measured using the sources of multi-wavelength.

Free Research Field

雪氷