html> MET 3510

Snow Temperature



Assignment 1. Due January 14

  • Read the draft paper and the article by Colbeck.
  • 1. Summarize in a couple of paragraphs what ski friction depends upon based on the review article by Colbeck.
  • 2. Summarize in a couple of paragraphs the goals and results of the study conducted at Soldier Hollow.
  • 3. The IR sensor assumes the emissivity is 1.0. However, the emissivity for ice can be as low as .95, while for fresh snow the emissivity is typically .98. If the sensor with the emissivity set to 1.0 reports a temperature of 0C (273K), what is the actual temperature for snow (emissivity .98) and ice (emissivity .95) in this instance? Use the Stefan-Boltzman Law Stefan-Boltzmann Law: IR = emissivity x constant x TxTxTxT. The constant is 5.67x10(-8) W/(m2 K4). Be sure to convert to K when using the above equation. The bias introduced by setting the emissivity to 1 causes the reported temperature compared to the actual temperature to always be too warm or too cold? Is the error arising from the misspecification of emissivity important given the accuracy of the sensor for snow? for ice? Use the handout to compare the accuracy of the sensor to the bias due to incorrectly specifying the emissivity.