We observed broadband snow albedos in the visible and the near infrared spectral regions with snow pit works of several-day intervals, during the winters of 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 at Shinjo, Japan. We examined the dependence of albedos on snow grain size and on concentration of snow impurities, comparing observations and theoretical calculations using a radiative transfer model for atmosphere-snow system. The comparisons revealed that the snow was contaminated by strong absorptive impurities such as soot additional to moderate absorptive impurities such as mineral dust. Snow albedo reduction after snowfalls (snow aging effect on albedo) observed in both spectral regions corresponded to the growth tendency of snow grains and the increasing concentration of snow impurities with elapsed time after snowfalls. Measurement of the atmospheric aerosols above the snow surface using a laser optical particle counter suggested that wet deposition of atmospheric aerosols caused snow impurities of more than 1 ppmw in mass concentration.
There are some reports on the measurement of the charge-to-mass ratio of blowing-snow particles, but there are few studies concerned with individual snow-particle charge. We measured the charge-to-mass ratios using snow particles selected according to size, and discussed individual charges. Experiments were conducted in a cryogenic wind tunnel. Charge-to-mass ratios measured in our experiment were all negative and their absolute values tended to increase with a decrease in particle diameter. Individual snow-particle charges were calculated from the average of particle diameter distributions. The charges were all approximated by the power function of diameter at each temperature. Assuming that the coefficient of these approximations is a function of air temperature, we could easily predict the individual snow-particle charge.
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