moldestad_2005.htm
Bulletin of Glaciological Research 22 (2005)
39-49
©Japanese Society of Snow and Ice
Characterisation of liquid water content
and snow density in a cross-country
race ski track
Dag Anders MOLDESTAD1
1 AutoSock AS, Maria Dehlis vei 57, N-1084
Oslo, Norway
Abstract
Various snow parameters have been registered during measurement campaigns in cross-country race ski tracks in Norway (1995-98), Hakuba/Japan (1996-98) and Sundance/USA (1999). Specific attention has been paid to snow hardness, LWC (liquid water content), snow density, snow grain structure and electrolytic conductivity. The present paper focuses on LWC, snow density and to some extent snow grain structure.
The mean density of the upper 5cm in ski
tracks (0.50 g cm-3) is considerably higher than typical densities
of seasonal snow covers (0.26-0.38 g cm-3) and higher for transformed snow types (0.51-0.59
g cm-3) than new snow types (0.39-0.43 g cm-3). The LWC of the upper 5cm in a ski track
typically ranges between 0 and 12.5% per
volume. It is typically less than 2% for
snow temperatures (2cm depth) below −2℃
and less than \% for snow temperatures below
−7℃. LWC exceeding 4% have only been registered
at air temperatures above + 1℃. The typical
grain size of the snow surface in a ski track
ranges from 0.26 to 1.89mm for transformed
snow types and from 0.08 to 0.38mm for new
snow types. In-situ microscope imaging of
ski tracks is very difficult for new snow
types with snow surface grains below 0.2
mm.
