Snow and Firn Microstructure and Transport Properties: U. S. ITASE

该奖项支持一个测量美国国际跨南极科学考察队(US ITASE)在西南极穿越路线上的积雪和积雪散体特性和微观结构的项目。这些参数很重要，因为它们控制着空气-雪花的输送过程，从而控制着空气中的热、蒸汽和化学物质结合到雪和极地降雪中的方式。该项目的目标是获得近地表(低至2米)积雪和降雪特性的现场测量，包括表面粗糙度、渗透率、密度、颗粒大小、表面积与体积比和曲折度。此外，微结构测量和上述性能的测量将在实验室中进行，测量范围可达20米以下。这些测量将被用于一个运输模型，以阐明美国ITASE导线沿线不同地点的空气-积雪-积雪交换和固化过程的性质。由于雪和降雪的许多性质也影响电磁光谱不同部分的辐射相互作用，这些测量将为那些使用遥感绘制雪、雪和冰性质的空间变化地图的努力提供有价值的地面事实。

This award supports a project to measure snow and firn bulk properties and microstructure along the route of the U.S. International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (US ITASE) traverses in West Antarctica. These parameters are important because they control the air-snow-firn transport processes and thus the manner in which heat, vapor, and chemical species in air are incorporated into snow and polar firn. The objectives of the project are to obtain field measurements of near-surface (down to 2 meters) snow and firn properties, which include surface roughness, permeability, density, grain size, surface-to-volume ratio, and tortuosity. In addition microstructural measurements and measurements of the above properties will be measured in firn cores down to 20 meters back in the laboratory. These measurements will be used in a transport model to elucidate the nature of the air-snow-firn exchange and firnification process at the various sites along the U.S. ITASE traverse. Since many of the snow and firn properties also affect the interaction of radiation in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, these measurements will provide valuable ground truth to those efforts using remote sensing to map the spatial variations of snow, firn and ice properties.