Motion of Particles in Melting Snow

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This award supports a project to study the motion of particles in melting snow, under both natural conditions and in controlled laboratory experiments. The research has two primary motivations. First, this work will aid in understanding the impact of natural and industrial particle depositions in the course of snow melt. Primary focus will be on elemental carbon particles (soot), because of their strong effect on radiative properties and their environmental importance. Secondly, this work will provide important information for glaciologists who want to know if the stability of particle stratigraphy in accumulation areas of temperate ice caps can be used to find past history of particle deposition, for example, in relation to biomass burning or volcanic eruptions. The field studies will be undertaken on the Snow Dome of the Blue Glacier, Washington.