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Thermal conductivity of snow by a transient state probe method
Author(s) -
Jaafar H.,
Picot J. J. C.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr006i001p00333
Subject(s) - snow , thermal conductivity , transient (computer programming) , materials science , time constant , thermal conductivity measurement , thermal conduction , thermal , steady state (chemistry) , conductivity , field (mathematics) , mechanics , analytical chemistry (journal) , thermodynamics , environmental science , meteorology , composite material , chemistry , electrical engineering , physics , mathematics , chromatography , computer science , engineering , operating system , pure mathematics
A transient state thermal conductivity probe (¼″ in diameter, 30″ in length) is described along with the method by which it is used to measure thermal conductivity of snow. Heat is supplied electrically at a constant rate to the probe at a given time after insertion into the sample. After a four minute lag, a plot of probe temperature rise against logarithm of time since the start of heating, gives a straight line whose slope is inversely proportional to sample thermal conductivity and proportional to the heating rate. The probe was calibrated against a standardized oil, and the constant was found to be unity. Values for artificially packed snow in the laboratory agreed with published data. However, values found in the field were considerably lower. The device is recommended for field measurements since data can be obtained with minimum disturbance of the snow.