Microstructural approach towards prediction of air permeability and gas diffusivity in polar firn

HR: 1340h
AN: A53B-1163 [Abstracts]
TI: Microstructural approach towards prediction of air permeability and gas diffusivity in polar firn
AU: * Courville, Z
EM: Zoe.R.Courville@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Albert, M
EM: Mary.R.Albert@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Albert, M
EM: Mary.R.Albert@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, 8000 Cummings Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Horhold, M
EM: Maria.Hoerhold@awi.de
AF: Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 12 0161, D- 27515, Bremerhaven, 27515, Germany
AU: Hopkins, M
EM: Mark.Hopkins@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Freitag, J
EM: Johannes.Freitag@awi.de
AF: Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 12 0161, D- 27515, Bremerhaven, 27515, Germany
AB: Recent investigations of the air permeability and gas diffusivity of polar firn have shown that these proporties are not solely dependent on firn density, and that prediction of these properties can be improved by considering the effect of firn microstructural geometry. Co-registered measurements of air permeability, gas diffusivity, density and microstructure were made at 10 cm resolution on cores from East Anarctica, in a megadunes area, and West Antarctica, Hercules Dome. In addition, three-dimensional imaging of the firn microstructure usng micro-CT scans of selected firn cores was done. The 3D reconstructions of firn geometry were used in lattice-Boltzmann modeling of air flow through the samples. The measurements and modeling of air flow both indicate that the firn geometry can significantly influence air permeability.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0724 Ice cores (4932)
DE: 0736 Snow (1827, 1863)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting