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Feb 27, 2007: The "Critical Temperature Gradient" Myth
Comments are closed since this post is old and has been attracting a lot of spam comments. Real and constructive comments (from any point of view) are still welcome, as are guest posts on any related topic. You can send comments to snow@csac.org and you can also contact us there if you would like to write a guest post. (2022-07-08)
For years the figure of 1 C per 10 cm of depth has been called a "critical temperature gradient" and considered the gradient in the snowpack at which faceting of the grains begins. In a recent forum topic the original question was what is most important for faceting and of course this number was presented right away.
What is actually important is the vapor pressure gradient. Depending on the temperature the gradient may need to be much larger than this "critical value" before faceting actually begins to occur.
For years the figure of 1 C per 10 cm of depth has been called a "critical temperature gradient" and considered the gradient in the snowpack at which faceting of the grains begins. In a recent forum topic the original question was what is most important for faceting and of course this number was presented right away.
What is actually important is the vapor pressure gradient. Depending on the temperature the gradient may need to be much larger than this "critical value" before faceting actually begins to occur.
