A trough is an elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure without a closed isobaric contour that would define it as a low pressure area . Since low pressure implies a low height on a pressure surface, troughs and ridges refer to features in an identical sense as those on a topographic map .
120-622: Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere —usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout its life cycle, starting when, under suitable conditions, the ice crystals form in the atmosphere, increase to millimeter size, precipitate and accumulate on surfaces, then metamorphose in place, and ultimately melt, slide or sublimate away. Snowstorms organize and develop by feeding on sources of atmospheric moisture and cold air. Snowflakes nucleate around particles in
240-416: A geographic saddle between two mountain peaks. A trough is the result of the movements of the air in the atmosphere. In regions where there is upward movement near the ground and divergence at altitude, there is a loss of mass. The pressure becomes lower at this point. At upper levels of the atmosphere, this occurs when there is a meeting of a mass of cold air and another hot one along a thin ribbon called
360-632: A glacier may form. Otherwise, snow typically melts seasonally, causing runoff into streams and rivers and recharging groundwater . Major snow-prone areas include the polar regions , the northernmost half of the Northern Hemisphere and mountainous regions worldwide with sufficient moisture and cold temperatures. In the Southern Hemisphere , snow is confined primarily to mountainous areas, apart from Antarctica . Snow affects such human activities as transportation : creating
480-407: A low pressure center . A trough is an elongated area of lower air pressure. Since pressure is closely linked to wind, there are often changes in wind direction across a trough. If a trough forms in the mid-latitudes, a temperature difference at some distance between the two sides of the trough usually exists and the trough might become a weather front at some point. However, such a weather front
600-400: A rainband ), when temperature is near freezing at the surface. The strong convection that develops has enough moisture to produce whiteout conditions at places which the line passes over as the wind causes intense blowing snow. This type of snowsquall generally lasts less than 30 minutes at any point along its path, but the motion of the line can cover large distances. Frontal squalls may form
720-433: A cirque (corrie or cwm), a typically armchair-shaped geological feature, which collects snow and where the snowpack compacts under the weight of successive layers of accumulating snow, forming névé. Further crushing of the individual snow crystals and reduction of entrapped air in the snow turns it into glacial ice. This glacial ice will fill the cirque until it overflows through a geological weakness or an escape route, such as
840-648: A crystal morphology diagram, relating crystal shapes to the temperature and moisture conditions under which they formed, which is summarized in the following table. Dendrites Hollow prisms Needles Solid plates Dendrites Solid plates Prisms Nakaya discovered that the shape is also a function of whether the prevalent moisture is above or below saturation. Forms below the saturation line tend more toward solid and compact while crystals formed in supersaturated air tend more toward lacy, delicate, and ornate. Many more complex growth patterns also form, which include side-planes, bullet-rosettes, and planar types, depending on
960-619: A density between a quarter and two thirds that of pure ice, due to a high proportion of trapped air, which also makes soft rime appear white. Hard rime is denser, more transparent, and more likely to appear on ships and aircraft. Cold wind specifically causes what is known as advection frost when it collides with objects. When it occurs on plants, it often causes damage to them. Various methods exist to protect agricultural crops from frost - from simply covering them to using wind machines. In recent decades, irrigation sprinklers have been calibrated to spray just enough water to preemptively create
1080-447: A droplet has frozen, it grows in the supersaturated environment—one where air is saturated with respect to ice when the temperature is below the freezing point. The droplet then grows by diffusion of water molecules in the air (vapor) onto the ice crystal surface where they are collected. Because water droplets are so much more numerous than the ice crystals, the crystals are able to grow to hundreds of micrometers or millimeters in size at
1200-587: A few molecules in the droplet need to get together by chance to form an arrangement similar to that in an ice lattice. The droplet freezes around this "nucleus". In warmer clouds, an aerosol particle or "ice nucleus" must be present in (or in contact with) the droplet to act as a nucleus. Ice nuclei are very rare compared to cloud condensation nuclei on which liquid droplets form. Clays, desert dust, and biological particles can be nuclei. Artificial nuclei include particles of silver iodide and dry ice , and these are used to stimulate precipitation in cloud seeding . Once
1320-410: A few molecules in the droplet need to get together by chance to form an arrangement similar to that in an ice lattice; then the droplet freezes around this "nucleus". Experiments show that this "homogeneous" nucleation of cloud droplets only occurs at temperatures lower than −35 °C (238 K; −31 °F). In warmer clouds an aerosol particle or "ice nucleus" must be present in (or in contact with)
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#17327656408951440-704: A form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent balls of ice, which are usually smaller than hailstones. This form of precipitation is also referred to as "sleet" by the United States National Weather Service . (In British English "sleet" refers to a mixture of rain and snow .) Ice pellets typically form alongside freezing rain, when a wet warm front ends up between colder and drier atmospheric layers. There, raindrops would both freeze and shrink in size due to evaporative cooling. So-called snow pellets, or graupel , form when multiple water droplets freeze onto snowflakes until
1560-420: A frontal baroclinic zone. We then have the creation of a jet stream that plunges the cold air towards the equator and hot air towards the poles, creating a ripple in the circulation that is called a Rossby wave . These undulations give the hollows and peaks of altitude. In general, absolute vorticity advection is positive between these two features, but closer to the ridge, whereas it is negative just behind
1680-559: A function of temperature and sliding speed. 2014 research suggests that frictional heating is the most important process under most typical conditions. The term that collectively describes all of the parts of the Earth's surface where water is in frozen form is the cryosphere . Ice is an important component of the global climate, particularly in regard to the water cycle. Glaciers and snowpacks are an important storage mechanism for fresh water; over time, they may sublimate or melt. Snowmelt
1800-432: A hailstone becomes too heavy to be supported by the storm's updraft, it falls from the cloud. Hail forms in strong thunderstorm clouds, particularly those with intense updrafts, high liquid water content, great vertical extent, large water droplets, and where a good portion of the cloud layer is below freezing 0 °C (32 °F). Hail-producing clouds are often identifiable by their green coloration. The growth rate
1920-567: A hemisphere's fall , winter, and spring, the atmosphere over continents can be cold enough through the depth of the troposphere to cause snowfall. In the Northern Hemisphere, the northern side of the low-pressure area produces the most snow. For the southern mid-latitudes , the side of a cyclone that produces the most snow is the southern side. A cold front , the leading edge of a cooler mass of air, can produce frontal snowsqualls —an intense frontal convective line (similar to
2040-485: A highly porous, sintered material made up of a continuous ice structure and a continuously connected pore space, forming together the snow microstructure". Almost always near its melting temperature, a snowpack is continually transforming these properties wherein all three phases of water may coexist, including liquid water partially filling the pore space. After deposition, snow progresses on one of two paths that determine its fate, either by ablation (mostly by melting) from
2160-581: A key role in Earth's water cycle and climate . In the recent decades, ice volume on Earth has been decreasing due to climate change . The largest declines have occurred in the Arctic and in the mountains located outside of the polar regions. The loss of grounded ice (as opposed to floating sea ice ) is the primary contributor to sea level rise . Humans have been using ice for various purposes for thousands of years. Some historic structures designed to hold ice to provide cooling are over 2,000 years old. Before
2280-469: A larger weather system. The physics of snow crystal development in clouds results from a complex set of variables that include moisture content and temperatures. The resulting shapes of the falling and fallen crystals can be classified into a number of basic shapes and combinations thereof. Occasionally, some plate-like, dendritic and stellar-shaped snowflakes can form under clear sky with a very cold temperature inversion present. Snow clouds usually occur in
2400-419: A layer of ice that would form slowly and so avoid a sudden temperature shock to the plant, and not be so thick as to cause damage with its weight. Ablation of ice refers to both its melting and its dissolution . The melting of ice entails the breaking of hydrogen bonds between the water molecules. The ordering of the molecules in the solid breaks down to a less ordered state and the solid melts to become
2520-456: A liquid. This is achieved by increasing the internal energy of the ice beyond the melting point . When ice melts it absorbs as much energy as would be required to heat an equivalent amount of water by 80 °C. While melting, the temperature of the ice surface remains constant at 0 °C. The rate of the melting process depends on the efficiency of the energy exchange process. An ice surface in fresh water melts solely by free convection with
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#17327656408952640-436: A low speed. Ice forms on calm water from the shores, a thin layer spreading across the surface, and then downward. Ice on lakes is generally four types: primary, secondary, superimposed and agglomerate. Primary ice forms first. Secondary ice forms below the primary ice in a direction parallel to the direction of the heat flow. Superimposed ice forms on top of the ice surface from rain or water which seeps up through cracks in
2760-430: A minimum extent of 2 million square kilometres (0.77 × 10 ^ sq mi) each August to a maximum extent of 45 million square kilometres (17 × 10 ^ sq mi) each January or nearly half of the land surface in that hemisphere. A study of Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent for the period 1972–2006 suggests a reduction of 0.5 million square kilometres (0.19 × 10 ^ sq mi) over
2880-581: A naturally occurring crystalline inorganic solid with an ordered structure, ice is considered to be a mineral . Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air , it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color. Virtually all of the ice on Earth is of a hexagonal crystalline structure denoted as ice I h (spoken as "ice one h"). Depending on temperature and pressure, at least nineteen phases ( packing geometries ) can exist. The most common phase transition to ice I h occurs when liquid water
3000-527: A qualifying term indicating a specific or a set of characteristics. An inverted trough is an atmospheric trough which is oriented opposite to most troughs of the mid-latitudes. Most (but not all) inverted troughs are tropical waves (also commonly called easterly waves). Most troughs of low pressure in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are characterized by decreasing atmospheric pressure from south to north while inverted troughs are characterized by decreasing pressure from north to south. This situation
3120-505: A rate that depends linearly on the water temperature, T ∞ , when T ∞ is less than 3.98 °C, and superlinearly when T ∞ is equal to or greater than 3.98 °C, with the rate being proportional to (T ∞ − 3.98 °C) , with α = 5 / 3 for T ∞ much greater than 8 °C, and α = 4 / 3 for in between temperatures T ∞ . In salty ambient conditions, dissolution rather than melting often causes
3240-434: A series of snow events, punctuated by freezing and thawing, over areas that are cold enough to retain snow seasonally or perennially. Major snow-prone areas include the Arctic and Antarctic , the Northern Hemisphere, and alpine regions. The liquid equivalent of snowfall may be evaluated using a snow gauge or with a standard rain gauge , adjusted for winter by removal of a funnel and inner cylinder. Both types of gauges melt
3360-409: A short distance ahead of the surface cold front or behind the cold front where there may be a deepening low-pressure system or a series of trough lines which act similar to a traditional cold frontal passage. In situations where squalls develop post-frontally, it is not unusual to have two or three linear squall bands pass in rapid succession separated only by 25 miles (40 kilometers), with each passing
3480-487: A single oxygen atom covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms , or H–O–H. However, many of the physical properties of water and ice are controlled by the formation of hydrogen bonds between adjacent oxygen and hydrogen atoms; while it is a weak bond, it is nonetheless critical in controlling the structure of both water and ice. An unusual property of water is that its solid form—ice frozen at atmospheric pressure —is approximately 8.3% less dense than its liquid form; this
3600-418: A snow fall or seasonal snowpack, or by transitioning from firn (multi-year snow) into glacier ice . Over the course of time, a snowpack may settle under its own weight until its density is approximately 30% of water. Increases in density above this initial compression occur primarily by melting and refreezing, caused by temperatures above freezing or by direct solar radiation. In colder climates, snow lies on
3720-608: A snowpack can create flow fingers and ponding or flow along capillary barriers, which can refreeze into horizontal and vertical solid ice formations within the snowpack. Among the measurements of the properties of snowpacks that the International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground includes are: snow height, snow water equivalent, snow strength, and extent of snow cover. Each has a designation with code and detailed description. The classification extends
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3840-416: A snowslide or snowslip) is a rapid flow of snow down a sloping surface. Avalanches are typically triggered in a starting zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack (slab avalanche) when the forces on the snow exceed its strength but sometimes only with gradually widening (loose snow avalanche). After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they entrain more snow. If
3960-746: A soft ball-like shape is formed. So-called " diamond dust ", (METAR code IC ) also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °C (−40 °F) due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface-based air. As water drips and re-freezes, it can form hanging icicles , or stalagmite -like structures on the ground. On sloped roofs, buildup of ice can produce an ice dam , which stops melt water from draining properly and potentially leads to damaging leaks. More generally, water vapor depositing onto surfaces due to high relative humidity and then freezing results in various forms of atmospheric icing , or frost . Inside buildings, this can be seen as ice on
4080-628: A substance denser than névé , yet less dense and hard than glacial ice . Firn resembles caked sugar and is very resistant to shovelling. Its density generally ranges from 550 to 830 kilograms per cubic metre (34 to 52 lb/cu ft), and it can often be found underneath the snow that accumulates at the head of a glacier . The minimum altitude that firn accumulates on a glacier is called the firn limit , firn line or snowline . There are four main mechanisms for movement of deposited snow: drifting of unsintered snow, avalanches of accumulated snow on steep slopes, snowmelt during thaw conditions, and
4200-471: A temperature of −78.5 °C (−109.3 °F), the vaporization point of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice). Most liquids under increased pressure freeze at higher temperatures because the pressure helps to hold the molecules together. However, the strong hydrogen bonds in water make it different: for some pressures higher than 1 atm (0.10 MPa), water freezes at a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F). Ice, water, and water vapour can coexist at
4320-574: A thin surface layer, which makes it particularly hazardous to walk across it. Another dangerous form of rotten ice to traverse on foot is candle ice, which develops in columns perpendicular to the surface of a lake. Because it lacks a firm horizontal structure, a person who has fallen through has nothing to hold onto to pull themselves out. Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets (about 10 μm in diameter) freeze . These droplets are able to remain liquid at temperatures lower than −18 °C (255 K; 0 °F), because to freeze,
4440-453: A trough. At the surface, lifting air under positive vorticity advection is reflected by the formation of depressions and troughs. There will therefore be a slope between the barometric high altitude and that on the ground, this slope going towards the mass of cold air at high altitude (generally towards the Pole). Troughs have an orientation relative to the poles which is rarely North-South. In
4560-470: Is "the transformation that the snow undergoes in the period from deposition to either melting or passage to glacial ice". Starting as a powdery deposition, snow becomes more granular when it begins to compact under its own weight, be blown by the wind, sinter particles together and commence the cycle of melting and refreezing. Water vapor plays a role as it deposits ice crystals, known as hoar frost , during cold, still conditions. During this transition, snow "is
4680-442: Is a basic cause of freeze-thaw weathering of rock in nature and damage to building foundations and roadways from frost heaving . It is also a common cause of the flooding of houses when water pipes burst due to the pressure of expanding water when it freezes. Because ice is less dense than liquid water, it floats, and this prevents bottom-up freezing of the bodies of water. Instead, a sheltered environment for animal and plant life
4800-427: Is abundant on the Earth's surface, particularly in the polar regions and above the snow line , where it can aggregate from snow to form glaciers and ice sheets . As snowflakes and hail , ice is a common form of precipitation , and it may also be deposited directly by water vapor as frost . The transition from ice to water is melting and from ice directly to water vapor is sublimation . These processes plays
4920-424: Is an important source of seasonal fresh water. The World Meteorological Organization defines several kinds of ice depending on origin, size, shape, influence and so on. Clathrate hydrates are forms of ice that contain gas molecules trapped within its crystal lattice. Ice that is found at sea may be in the form of drift ice floating in the water, fast ice fixed to a shoreline or anchor ice if attached to
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5040-498: Is cooled below 0 °C ( 273.15 K , 32 °F ) at standard atmospheric pressure . When water is cooled rapidly ( quenching ), up to three types of amorphous ice can form. Interstellar ice is overwhelmingly low-density amorphous ice (LDA), which likely makes LDA ice the most abundant type in the universe. When cooled slowly, correlated proton tunneling occurs below −253.15 °C ( 20 K , −423.67 °F ) giving rise to macroscopic quantum phenomena . Ice
5160-494: Is divided into four categories: pore ice, vein ice (also known as ice wedges), buried surface ice and intrasedimental ice (from the freezing of underground waters). One example of ice formation in permafrost areas is aufeis - layered ice that forms in Arctic and subarctic stream valleys. Ice, frozen in the stream bed, blocks normal groundwater discharge, and causes the local water table to rise, resulting in water discharge on top of
5280-435: Is equivalent to a volumetric expansion of 9%. The density of ice is 0.9167 –0.9168 g/cm at 0 °C and standard atmospheric pressure (101,325 Pa), whereas water has a density of 0.9998 –0.999863 g/cm at the same temperature and pressure. Liquid water is densest, essentially 1.00 g/cm , at 4 °C and begins to lose its density as the water molecules begin to form the hexagonal crystals of ice as
5400-484: Is extremely rare otherwise. Even icy moons like Ganymede are expected to mainly consist of other crystalline forms of ice. Water in the interstellar medium is dominated by amorphous ice, making it likely the most common form of water in the universe. Low-density ASW (LDA), also known as hyperquenched glassy water, may be responsible for noctilucent clouds on Earth and is usually formed by deposition of water vapor in cold or vacuum conditions. High-density ASW (HDA)
5520-484: Is formed beneath the floating ice, which protects the underside from short-term weather extremes such as wind chill . Sufficiently thin floating ice allows light to pass through, supporting the photosynthesis of bacterial and algal colonies. When sea water freezes, the ice is riddled with brine-filled channels which sustain sympagic organisms such as bacteria, algae, copepods and annelids . In turn, they provide food for animals such as krill and specialized fish like
5640-452: Is formed by compression of ordinary ice I h or LDA at GPa pressures. Very-high-density ASW (VHDA) is HDA slightly warmed to 160 K under 1–2 GPa pressures. Ice from a theorized superionic water may possess two crystalline structures. At pressures in excess of 500,000 bars (7,300,000 psi) such superionic ice would take on a body-centered cubic structure. However, at pressures in excess of 1,000,000 bars (15,000,000 psi)
5760-418: Is gradually removed from the air by this process, leaving drier and warmer air on the descending, or leeward , side. The resulting enhanced snowfall, along with the decrease in temperature with elevation, combine to increase snow depth and seasonal persistence of snowpack in snow-prone areas. Mountain waves have also been found to help enhance precipitation amounts downwind of mountain ranges by enhancing
5880-448: Is maximized at about −13 °C (9 °F), and becomes vanishingly small much below −30 °C (−22 °F) as supercooled water droplets become rare. For this reason, hail is most common within continental interiors of the mid-latitudes, as hail formation is considerably more likely when the freezing level is below the altitude of 11,000 feet (3,400 m). Entrainment of dry air into strong thunderstorms over continents can increase
6000-423: Is not a requirement, as blowing snow can create a ground blizzard . Snowstorm intensity may be categorized by visibility and depth of accumulation. Snowfall's intensity is determined by visibility , as follows: Snowsqualls may deposit snow in bands that extend from bodies of water as lake-event weather or result from the passage of an upper-level front. The International Classification for Seasonal Snow on
6120-670: Is not a universal symbol for a trough on a surface weather analysis chart. The weather charts in some countries or regions mark troughs by a line. In the United States, a trough may be marked as a dashed line or bold line. In the UK, Hong Kong and Fiji, it is represented by a bold line extended from a low pressure center or between two low pressure centers; in Macau and Australia, it is a dashed line. If they are not marked, troughs may still be identified as an extension of isobars away from
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#17327656408956240-464: Is over 70% ice on its surface is said to be covered by pack ice. Fully formed sea ice can be forced together by currents and winds to form pressure ridges up to 12 metres (39 ft) tall. On the other hand, active wave activity can reduce sea ice to small, regularly shaped pieces, known as pancake ice . Sometimes, wind and wave activity "polishes" sea ice to perfectly spherical pieces known as ice eggs . The largest ice formations on Earth are
6360-409: Is shifted toward slightly lower energies. Thus, ice appears blue, with a slightly greener tint than liquid water. Since absorption is cumulative, the color effect intensifies with increasing thickness or if internal reflections cause the light to take a longer path through the ice. Other colors can appear in the presence of light absorbing impurities, where the impurity is dictating the color rather than
6480-463: Is termed ocean-effect or bay-effect snow . The effect is enhanced when the moving air mass is uplifted by the orographic influence of higher elevations on the downwind shores. This uplifting can produce narrow but very intense bands of precipitation which may deposit at a rate of many inches of snow each hour, often resulting in a large amount of total snowfall. The areas affected by lake-effect snow are called snowbelts . These include areas east of
6600-522: Is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. Inverted troughs in both hemispheres move to the west from the east, while mid-latitude troughs generally move with the westerlies toward the east. A lee trough, also known as a dynamic trough, is "A pressure trough formed on the lee side of a mountain range in situations where the wind is blowing with a substantial component across the mountain ridge; often seen on United States weather maps east of
6720-531: Is therefore slower than melting. Ice has long been valued as a means of cooling. In 400 BC Iran, Persian engineers had already developed techniques for ice storage in the desert through the summer months. During the winter, ice was transported from harvesting pools and nearby mountains in large quantities to be stored in specially designed, naturally cooled refrigerators , called yakhchal (meaning ice storage ). Yakhchals were large underground spaces (up to 5000 m ) that had thick walls (at least two meters at
6840-408: Is usually less convective than a trough in the tropics or subtropics (such as a tropical wave ). Inversely, sometimes collapsed frontal systems will degenerate into troughs. Sometimes the region between two high pressure centers may also assume the character of a trough when there is a detectable wind shift noted at the surface. In the absence of a wind shift, the region is designated a col , akin to
6960-751: The Great Lakes , the west coasts of northern Japan, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and areas near the Great Salt Lake , Black Sea , Caspian Sea , Baltic Sea , and parts of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Orographic or relief snowfall is created when moist air is forced up the windward side of mountain ranges by a large-scale wind flow. The lifting of moist air up the side of a mountain range results in adiabatic cooling, and ultimately condensation and precipitation. Moisture
7080-446: The bald notothen , fed upon in turn by larger animals such as emperor penguins and minke whales . When ice melts, it absorbs as much energy as it would take to heat an equivalent mass of water by 80 °C (176 °F). During the melting process, the temperature remains constant at 0 °C (32 °F). While melting, any energy added breaks the hydrogen bonds between ice (water) molecules. Energy becomes available to increase
7200-408: The movement of glaciers after snow has persisted for multiple years and metamorphosed into glacier ice. When powdery snow drifts with the wind from the location where it originally fell, forming deposits with a depth of several meters in isolated locations. After attaching to hillsides, blown snow can evolve into a snow slab, which is an avalanche hazard on steep slopes. An avalanche (also called
7320-755: The triple point , which is exactly 273.16 K (0.01 °C) at a pressure of 611.657 Pa . The kelvin was defined as 1 / 273.16 of the difference between this triple point and absolute zero , though this definition changed in May 2019. Unlike most other solids, ice is difficult to superheat . In an experiment, ice at −3 °C was superheated to about 17 °C for about 250 picoseconds . Subjected to higher pressures and varying temperatures, ice can form in nineteen separate known crystalline phases at various densities, along with hypothetical proposed phases of ice that have not been observed. With care, at least fifteen of these phases (one of
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#17327656408957440-473: The "Ice King", worked on developing better insulation products for long distance shipments of ice, especially to the tropics; this became known as the ice trade. Between 1812 and 1822, under Lloyd Hesketh Bamford Hesketh 's instruction, Gwrych Castle was built with 18 large towers, one of those towers is called the 'Ice Tower'. Its sole purpose was to store Ice. Trieste sent ice to Egypt , Corfu , and Zante ; Switzerland, to France; and Germany sometimes
7560-646: The 35-year period. The following are world records regarding snowfall and snowflakes: The cities (more than 100,000 inhabitants) with the highest annual snowfall are Aomori (792 cm), Sapporo (485 cm) and Toyama (363 cm) in Japan , followed by St. John's (332 cm) and Quebec City (315 cm) in Canada , and Syracuse, NY (325 cm). According to the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences, snow metamorphism
7680-459: The Ground defines "height of new snow" as the depth of freshly fallen snow, in centimeters as measured with a ruler, that accumulated on a snowboard during an observation period of 24 hours, or other observation interval. After the measurement, the snow is cleared from the board and the board is placed flush with the snow surface to provide an accurate measurement at the end of the next interval. Melting, compacting, blowing and drifting contribute to
7800-528: The Northern Hemisphere, positively tilted troughs will extend from the lowest pressure northeast to southwest while negatively tilted troughs have a northwest to southeast orientation. In the Southern Hemisphere, the positive tilt will be southeast to northwest and the negative one southwest to northeast. A trough will usually begin with a positive tilt as cold air moves toward the Equator. The trough will become neutral (North-South) and then negatively tilted as
7920-548: The Rocky Mountains, and sometimes east of the Appalachians, where it is less pronounced." It can be formed either as a result of the adiabatic compression of sinking air on the lee side of a mountain range, or through cyclogenesis resulting from "the horizontal convergence associated with vertical stretching of air columns passing over the ridge and descending the lee slope." Convective cells may develop in
8040-567: The United States, with a combined value of shipments of $ 595,487,000. Home refrigerators can also make ice with a built in icemaker , which will typically make ice cubes or crushed ice. The first such device was presented in 1965 by Frigidaire . Ice forming on roads is a common winter hazard, and black ice particularly dangerous because it is very difficult to see. It is both very transparent, and often forms specifically in shaded (and therefore cooler and darker) areas, i.e. beneath overpasses . Trough (meteorology) Troughs may be at
8160-475: The ablation of ice. For example, the temperature of the Arctic Ocean is generally below the melting point of ablating sea ice. The phase transition from solid to liquid is achieved by mixing salt and water molecules, similar to the dissolution of sugar in water, even though the water temperature is far below the melting point of the sugar. However, the dissolution rate is limited by salt concentration and
8280-410: The accumulated snow and report the amount of water collected. At some automatic weather stations an ultrasonic snow depth sensor may be used to augment the precipitation gauge. Snow flurry , snow shower , snow storm and blizzard describe snow events of progressively greater duration and intensity. A blizzard is a weather condition involving snow and has varying definitions in different parts of
8400-425: The atmosphere by attracting supercooled water droplets, which freeze in hexagonal-shaped crystals. Snowflakes take on a variety of shapes, basic among these are platelets, needles, columns and rime . As snow accumulates into a snowpack , it may blow into drifts. Over time, accumulated snow metamorphoses, by sintering , sublimation and freeze-thaw . Where the climate is cold enough for year-to-year accumulation,
8520-456: The avalanche moves fast enough some of the snow may mix with the air forming a powder snow avalanche, which is a type of gravity current . They occur in three major mechanisms: Many rivers originating in mountainous or high-latitude regions receive a significant portion of their flow from snowmelt. This often makes the river's flow highly seasonal resulting in periodic flooding during the spring months and at least in dry mountainous regions like
8640-419: The base) made of a specific type of mortar called sarooj made from sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash. The mortar was resistant to heat transfer, helping to keep the ice cool enough not to melt; it was also impenetrable by water. Yakhchals often included a qanat and a system of windcatchers that could lower internal temperatures to frigid levels, even during the heat of the summer. One use for
8760-443: The conditions and ice nuclei. If a crystal has started forming in a column growth regime at around −5 °C (23 °F) and then falls into the warmer plate-like regime, plate or dendritic crystals sprout at the end of the column, producing so called "capped columns". Magono and Lee devised a classification of freshly formed snow crystals that includes 80 distinct shapes. They documented each with micrographs. Snow accumulates from
8880-474: The context of larger weather systems, the most important of which is the low-pressure area, which typically incorporate warm and cold fronts as part of their circulation. Two additional and locally productive sources of snow are lake-effect (also sea-effect) storms and elevation effects, especially in mountains. Mid-latitude cyclones are low-pressure areas which are capable of producing anything from cloudiness and mild snow storms to heavy blizzards . During
9000-544: The contribution of snowmelt to river hydraulics and ground hydrology . In doing so, they employ a variety of instruments to observe and measure the phenomena studied. Their findings contribute to knowledge applied by engineers , who adapt vehicles and structures to snow, by agronomists , who address the availability of snowmelt to agriculture , and those, who design equipment for sporting activities on snow. Scientists develop and others employ snow classification systems that describe its physical properties at scales ranging from
9120-447: The crystal facets and hollows/imperfections mean that the crystals often appear white in color due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small ice particles. Micrography of thousands of snowflakes from 1885 onward, starting with Wilson Alwyn Bentley , revealed the wide diversity of snowflakes within a classifiable set of patterns. Closely matching snow crystals have been observed. Ukichiro Nakaya developed
9240-442: The difficulty of measuring snowfall. Glaciers with their permanent snowpacks cover about 10% of the earth's surface, while seasonal snow covers about nine percent, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, where seasonal snow covers about 40 million square kilometres (15 × 10 ^ sq mi), according to a 1987 estimate. A 2007 estimate of snow cover over the Northern Hemisphere suggested that, on average, snow cover ranges from
9360-427: The droplet to act as a nucleus. Our understanding of what particles make efficient ice nuclei is poor – what we do know is they are very rare compared to that cloud condensation nuclei on which liquid droplets form. Clays, desert dust and biological particles may be effective, although to what extent is unclear. Artificial nuclei are used in cloud seeding . The droplet then grows by condensation of water vapor onto
9480-434: The energy carried by the cold air races east through the atmospheric circulation and distorts its shape. The positive tilt is thus the building phase of the trough and the negative tilt is the dissipation of its energy. Therefore, the clouds and precipitation will develop in the positive phase and the most severe weather will be in the negative phase. In addition to standard troughs, some troughs may be described further with
9600-482: The expense of the water droplets by the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process . These large crystals are an efficient source of precipitation, since they fall through the atmosphere due to their mass, and may collide and stick together in clusters, or aggregates. These aggregates are snowflakes , and are usually the type of ice particle that falls to the ground. Although the ice is clear, scattering of light by
9720-449: The freezing point is reached. This is due to hydrogen bonding dominating the intermolecular forces, which results in a packing of molecules less compact in the solid. The density of ice increases slightly with decreasing temperature and has a value of 0.9340 g/cm at −180 °C (93 K). When water freezes, it increases in volume (about 9% for fresh water). The effect of expansion during freezing can be dramatic, and ice expansion
9840-465: The frequency of hail by promoting evaporative cooling which lowers the freezing level of thunderstorm clouds giving hail a larger volume to grow in. Accordingly, hail is actually less common in the tropics despite a much higher frequency of thunderstorms than in the mid-latitudes because the atmosphere over the tropics tends to be warmer over a much greater depth. Hail in the tropics occurs mainly at higher elevations. Ice pellets ( METAR code PL ) are
9960-534: The frozen layer. This water then freezes, causing the water table to rise further and repeat the cycle. The result is a stratified ice deposit, often several meters thick. Snow line and snow fields are two related concepts, in that snow fields accumulate on top of and ablate away to the equilibrium point (the snow line) in an ice deposit. Ice which forms on moving water tends to be less uniform and stable than ice which forms on calm water. Ice jams (sometimes called "ice dams"), when broken chunks of ice pile up, are
10080-441: The gap between two mountains. When the mass of snow and ice is sufficiently thick, it begins to move due to a combination of surface slope, gravity and pressure. On steeper slopes, this can occur with as little as 15 m (49 ft) of snow-ice. Scientists study snow at a wide variety of scales that include the physics of chemical bonds and clouds ; the distribution, accumulation, metamorphosis, and ablation of snowpacks; and
10200-636: The greatest ice hazard on rivers. Ice jams can cause flooding, damage structures in or near the river, and damage vessels on the river. Ice jams can cause some hydropower industrial facilities to completely shut down. An ice dam is a blockage from the movement of a glacier which may produce a proglacial lake . Heavy ice flows in rivers can also damage vessels and require the use of an icebreaker vessel to keep navigation possible. Ice discs are circular formations of ice floating on river water. They form within eddy currents , and their position results in asymmetric melting, which makes them continuously rotate at
10320-451: The ground all winter. By late spring, snow densities typically reach a maximum of 50% of water. Snow that persists into summer evolves into névé , granular snow, which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted. Névé has a minimum density of 500 kilograms per cubic metre (31 lb/cu ft), which is roughly half of the density of liquid water. Firn is snow that has persisted for multiple years and has been recrystallized into
10440-503: The hailstones to the upper part of the cloud. The updraft dissipates and the hailstones fall down, back into the updraft, and are lifted up again. Hail has a diameter of 5 millimetres (0.20 in) or more. Within METAR code, GR is used to indicate larger hail, of a diameter of at least 6.4 millimetres (0.25 in) and GS for smaller. Stones of 19 millimetres (0.75 in), 25 millimetres (1.0 in) and 44 millimetres (1.75 in) are
10560-464: The ice exerted by any object. However, the significance of this hypothesis is disputed by experiments showing a high coefficient of friction for ice using atomic force microscopy . Thus, the mechanism controlling the frictional properties of ice is still an active area of scientific study. A comprehensive theory of ice friction must take into account all of the aforementioned mechanisms to estimate friction coefficient of ice against various materials as
10680-429: The ice itself. For instance, icebergs containing impurities (e.g., sediments, algae, air bubbles) can appear brown, grey or green. Because ice in natural environments is usually close to its melting temperature, its hardness shows pronounced temperature variations. At its melting point, ice has a Mohs hardness of 2 or less, but the hardness increases to about 4 at a temperature of −44 °C (−47 °F) and to 6 at
10800-456: The ice layer is caused by friction. However, this theory does not sufficiently explain why ice is slippery when standing still even at below-zero temperatures. Subsequent research suggested that ice molecules at the interface cannot properly bond with the molecules of the mass of ice beneath (and thus are free to move like molecules of liquid water). These molecules remain in a semi-liquid state, providing lubrication regardless of pressure against
10920-471: The ice surfaces. Ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain , which produces a glaze of ice on surfaces, including roads and power lines . In the United States, a quarter of winter weather events produce glaze ice, and utilities need to be prepared to minimize damages. Hail forms in storm clouds when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with condensation nuclei , such as dust or dirt . The storm's updraft blows
11040-481: The ice was to create chilled treats for royalty. There were thriving industries in 16th–17th century England whereby low-lying areas along the Thames Estuary were flooded during the winter, and ice harvested in carts and stored inter-seasonally in insulated wooden houses as a provision to an icehouse often located in large country houses, and widely used to keep fish fresh when caught in distant waters. This
11160-416: The ice which often settles when loaded with snow. An ice shove occurs when ice movement, caused by ice expansion and/or wind action, occurs to the extent that ice pushes onto the shores of lakes, often displacing sediment that makes up the shoreline. Shelf ice is formed when floating pieces of ice are driven by the wind piling up on the windward shore. This kind of ice may contain large air pockets under
11280-603: The ice, would melt a thin layer, providing sufficient lubrication for the blade to glide across the ice. Yet, 1939 research by Frank P. Bowden and T. P. Hughes found that skaters would experience a lot more friction than they actually do if it were the only explanation. Further, the optimum temperature for figure skating is −5.5 °C (22 °F; 268 K) and −9 °C (16 °F; 264 K) for hockey; yet, according to pressure melting theory, skating below −4 °C (25 °F; 269 K) would be outright impossible. Instead, Bowden and Hughes argued that heating and melting of
11400-445: The individual crystal to the aggregated snowpack. A sub-specialty is avalanches , which are of concern to engineers and outdoors sports people, alike. Snow science addresses how snow forms, its distribution, and processes affecting how snowpacks change over time. Scientists improve storm forecasting, study global snow cover and its effect on climate, glaciers, and water supplies around the world. The study includes physical properties of
11520-427: The invention of refrigeration technology, the only way to safely store food without modifying it through preservatives was to use ice. Sufficiently solid surface ice makes waterways accessible to land transport during winter, and dedicated ice roads may be maintained. Ice also plays a major role in winter sports . Ice possesses a regular crystalline structure based on the molecule of water, which consists of
11640-515: The known exceptions being ice X) can be recovered at ambient pressure and low temperature in metastable form. The types are differentiated by their crystalline structure, proton ordering, and density. There are also two metastable phases of ice under pressure, both fully hydrogen-disordered; these are Ice IV and Ice XII. Ice XII was discovered in 1996. In 2006, Ice XIII and Ice XIV were discovered. Ices XI, XIII, and XIV are hydrogen-ordered forms of ices I h , V, and XII respectively. In 2009, ice XV
11760-495: The large number of glaciers it contains. They cover an area of around 80,000 km (31,000 sq mi), and have a combined volume of between 3,000-4,700 km . These glaciers are nicknamed "Asian water towers", because their meltwater run-off feeds into rivers which provide water for an estimated two billion people. Permafrost refers to soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two years or more. The ice within permafrost
11880-610: The lift needed for condensation and precipitation. A snowflake consists of roughly 10 water molecules which are added to its core at different rates and in different patterns depending on the changing temperature and humidity within the atmosphere that the snowflake falls through on its way to the ground. As a result, snowflakes differ from each other though they follow similar patterns. Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets (about 10 μm in diameter) freeze . These droplets are able to remain liquid at temperatures lower than −18 °C (0 °F), because to freeze,
12000-562: The material as it changes, bulk properties of in-place snow packs, and the aggregate properties of regions with snow cover. In doing so, they employ on-the-ground physical measurement techniques to establish ground truth and remote sensing techniques to develop understanding of snow-related processes over large areas. In the field snow scientists often excavate a snow pit within which to make basic measurements and observations. Observations can describe features caused by wind, water percolation, or snow unloading from trees. Water percolation into
12120-524: The most frequently reported hail sizes in North America. Hailstones can grow to 15 centimetres (6 in) and weigh more than 0.5 kilograms (1.1 lb). In large hailstones, latent heat released by further freezing may melt the outer shell of the hailstone. The hailstone then may undergo 'wet growth', where the liquid outer shell collects other smaller hailstones. The hailstone gains an ice layer and grows increasingly larger with each ascent. Once
12240-501: The mountain West of the US or most of Iran and Afghanistan , very low flow for the rest of the year. In contrast, if much of the melt is from glaciated or nearly glaciated areas, the melt continues through the warm season, with peak flows occurring in mid to late summer. Glaciers form where the accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation. The area in which an alpine glacier forms is called
12360-408: The need for keeping roadways, wings, and windows clear; agriculture : providing water to crops and safeguarding livestock; sports such as skiing , snowboarding , and snowmachine travel; and warfare . Snow affects ecosystems , as well, by providing an insulating layer during winter under which plants and animals are able to survive the cold. Snow develops in clouds that themselves are part of
12480-537: The prior classifications of Nakaya and his successors to related types of precipitation and are quoted in the following table: All are formed in cloud, except for rime, which forms on objects exposed to supercooled moisture. Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C , 32 ° F , or 273.15 K . It occurs naturally on Earth , on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice . As
12600-514: The process to an even older author, Ibn Bakhtawayhi, of whom nothing is known. Ice is now produced on an industrial scale, for uses including food storage and processing, chemical manufacturing, concrete mixing and curing, and consumer or packaged ice. Most commercial icemakers produce three basic types of fragmentary ice: flake, tubular and plate, using a variety of techniques. Large batch ice makers can produce up to 75 tons of ice per day. In 2002, there were 426 commercial ice-making companies in
12720-401: The same point roughly 30 minutes apart. In cases where there is a large amount of vertical growth and mixing, the squall may develop embedded cumulonimbus clouds resulting in lightning and thunder which is dubbed thundersnow . A warm front can produce snow for a period as warm, moist air overrides below-freezing air and creates precipitation at the boundary. Often, snow transitions to rain in
12840-425: The seafloor. Ice which calves (breaks off) from an ice shelf or a coastal glacier may become an iceberg. The aftermath of calving events produces a loose mixture of snow and ice known as Ice mélange . Sea ice forms in several stages. At first, small, millimeter-scale crystals accumulate on the water surface in what is known as frazil ice . As they become somewhat larger and more consistent in shape and cover,
12960-440: The structure may shift to a more stable face-centered cubic lattice. It is speculated that superionic ice could compose the interior of ice giants such as Uranus and Neptune. Ice is " slippery " because it has a low coefficient of friction. This subject was first scientifically investigated in the 19th century. The preferred explanation at the time was " pressure melting " -i.e. the blade of an ice skate, upon exerting pressure on
13080-705: The summer. The advent of artificial refrigeration technology made the delivery of ice obsolete. Ice is still harvested for ice and snow sculpture events . For example, a swing saw is used to get ice for the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival each year from the frozen surface of the Songhua River . The earliest known written process to artificially make ice is by the 13th-century writings of Arab historian Ibn Abu Usaybia in his book Kitab Uyun al-anba fi tabaqat-al-atibba concerning medicine in which Ibn Abu Usaybia attributes
13200-443: The surface of un-insulated windows. Hoar frost is common in the environment, particularly in the low-lying areas such as valleys . In Antarctica, the temperatures can be so low that electrostatic attraction is increased to the point hoarfrost on snow sticks together when blown by wind into tumbleweed -like balls known as yukimarimo . Sometimes, drops of water crystallize on cold objects as rime instead of glaze. Soft rime has
13320-449: The surface, or aloft, at altitude. Near-surface troughs sometimes mark a weather front associated with clouds, showers, and a wind direction shift. Upper-level troughs in the jet stream (as shown in diagram) reflect cyclonic filaments of vorticity . Their motion induces upper-level wind divergence, lifting and cooling the air ahead (downstream) of the trough and helping to produce cloudy and rain conditions there. Unlike fronts, there
13440-441: The thermal energy (temperature) only after enough hydrogen bonds are broken that the ice can be considered liquid water. The amount of energy consumed in breaking hydrogen bonds in the transition from ice to water is known as the heat of fusion . As with water, ice absorbs light at the red end of the spectrum preferentially as the result of an overtone of an oxygen–hydrogen (O–H) bond stretch. Compared with water, this absorption
13560-486: The two ice sheets which almost completely cover the world's largest island, Greenland , and the continent of Antarctica . These ice sheets have an average thickness of over 1 km (0.6 mi) and have existed for millions of years. Other major ice formations on land include ice caps , ice fields , ice streams and glaciers . In particular, the Hindu Kush region is known as the Earth's "Third Pole" due to
13680-540: The vicinity of troughs and give birth to a tropical cyclone . Some tropical or subtropical regions such as the Philippines or South China are greatly affected by convection cells along a trough. In the mid-latitude westerlies , upper level troughs and ridges often alternate in a high-amplitude pattern. For a trough in the westerlies, the region just west of the trough axis is typically an area of convergent winds and descending air – and hence high pressure –, while
13800-403: The warm sector behind the front. Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water, warming the lower layer of air which picks up water vapor from the lake, rises up through the colder air above, freezes, and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores. The same effect occurring over bodies of salt water
13920-433: The water surface begins to look "oily" from above, so this stage is called grease ice . Then, ice continues to clump together, and solidify into flat cohesive pieces known as ice floes . Ice floes are the basic building blocks of sea ice cover, and their horizontal size (defined as half of their diameter ) varies dramatically, with the smallest measured in centimeters and the largest in hundreds of kilometers. An area which
14040-548: The world. In the United States , a blizzard occurs when two conditions are met for a period of three hours or more: a sustained wind or frequent gusts to 35 miles per hour (16 m/s), and sufficient snow in the air to reduce visibility to less than 0.4 kilometers (0.25 mi). In Canada and the United Kingdom , the criteria are similar. While heavy snowfall often occurs during blizzard conditions, falling snow
14160-456: Was allegedly copied by an Englishman who had seen the same activity in China. Ice was imported into England from Norway on a considerable scale as early as 1823. In the United States, the first cargo of ice was sent from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina , in 1799, and by the first half of the 19th century, ice harvesting had become a big business. Frederic Tudor , who became known as
14280-411: Was found at extremely high pressures and −143 °C. At even higher pressures, ice is predicted to become a metal ; this has been variously estimated to occur at 1.55 TPa or 5.62 TPa. As well as crystalline forms, solid water can exist in amorphous states as amorphous solid water (ASW) of varying densities. In outer space, hexagonal crystalline ice is present in the ice volcanoes , but
14400-509: Was supplied from Bavarian lakes. From 1930s and up until 1994, the Hungarian Parliament building used ice harvested in the winter from Lake Balaton for air conditioning. Ice houses were used to store ice formed in the winter, to make ice available all year long, and an early type of refrigerator known as an icebox was cooled using a block of ice placed inside it. Many cities had a regular ice delivery service during
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