A continuum model for meltwater flow through compacting snow

Meltwater is produced on the surface of glaciers and ice sheets when the seasonal energy forcing warms the snow to its melting temperature. This meltwater percolates into the snow and subsequently runs off laterally in streams, is stored as liquid water, or refreezes, thus warming the subsurface thr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The cryosphere 2017-12, Vol.11 (6), p.2799-2813
Main Authors: Meyer, Colin R, Hewitt, Ian J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Analysis
Boundary conditions
Compacting
Compaction
Computational fluid dynamics
Conduction
Conduction heating
Conductive heat transfer
Continuum modeling
Darcy's law
Darcys law
Energy
Energy balance
Firn
Flow (Dynamics)
Fluid flow
Freezing
Fronts
Glaciation
Glaciers
Glaciohydrology
Grain size
Greenland ice sheet
Heat
Heat conduction
Heat transfer
Ice
Ice sheets
Latent heat
Melt temperature
Meltwater
Percolation
Permeability
Profiles
Runoff
Snow
Snowmelt
Streams
Surface energy
Surface properties
Surface runoff
Surface water
Temperature
Water
Water storage
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Meltwater is produced on the surface of glaciers and ice sheets when the seasonal energy forcing warms the snow to its melting temperature. This meltwater percolates into the snow and subsequently runs off laterally in streams, is stored as liquid water, or refreezes, thus warming the subsurface through the release of latent heat. We present a continuum model for the percolation process that includes heat conduction, meltwater percolation and refreezing, as well as mechanical compaction. The model is forced by surface mass and energy balances, and the percolation process is described using Darcy's law, allowing for both partially and fully saturated pore space. Water is allowed to run off from the surface if the snow is fully saturated. The model outputs include the temperature, density, and water-content profiles and the surface runoff and water storage. We compare the propagation of freezing fronts that occur in the model to observations from the Greenland Ice Sheet. We show that the model applies to both accumulation and ablation areas and allows for a transition between the two as the surface energy forcing varies. The largest average firn temperatures occur at intermediate values of the surface forcing when perennial water storage is predicted.
ISSN:1994-0424
1994-0416
1994-0424
1994-0416
DOI:10.5194/tc-11-2799-2017