snowpack

{{Short description|Compressed accumulation of snow}}

File:Snowpitglacier.jpg, in Alaska to measure snowpack depth and density]]

{{redirect|Snow pack|the Flash episode|Snow Pack}}

Snowpack is an accumulation of snow that compresses with time and melts seasonally, often at high elevation or high latitude.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-25 |title=Definition of SNOWPACK |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snowpack |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Definition of 'snowpack' |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/snowpack |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=Collins English Dictionary}} Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt, sometimes leading to flooding. Snowpacks provide water to down-slope communities for drinking and agriculture.{{Cite web |title=Snowpack |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/snowpack |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}} High-latitude or high-elevation snowpacks contribute mass to glaciers in their accumulation zones, where annual snow deposition exceeds annual melting.{{Cite web |title=Science of Glaciers |url=https://nsidc.org/learn/parts-cryosphere/glaciers/science-glaciers |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=National Snow and Ice Data Center |language=en}}

Assessing the formation and stability of snowpacks is important in the study and prediction of avalanches.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_SNr4LPdUQC&pg=PA346 |pages=346–347|title=Mountaineering|isbn=9781594851292|last1=Cox|first1=Steven M.|last2=Fulsaas|first2=Kris|publisher=Mountaineers Books }}Tobias Kurzeder, Holger Feist, Powderguide: Managing Avalanche Risk, Mountain Sports Press, 978-0972482738, 190 pages Scientists study the physical properties of snow under different conditions and their evolution, and more specifically snow metamorphism,Pinzer, B. R., Schneebeli, M., and Kaempfer, T. U.(2012) "[https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/6/1141/2012/tc-6-1141-2012.pdf Vapor flux and recrystallization during dry snow metamorphism under a steady temperature gradient as observed by time-lapse micro-tomography]", TheCryosphere, 6, 1141–1155, {{doi|10.5194/tc-6-1141-2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.slf.ch/ueber/organisation/schnee_permafrost/projekte/schneemetamorphose/index_EN|title=Fresh insights into snow metamorphism|first=Michael|last=Lehning |website=WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904062141/http://www.slf.ch/ueber/organisation/schnee_permafrost/projekte/schneemetamorphose/index_EN |archive-date= Sep 4, 2017 }} snow hydrology (that is, the contribution of snow melt to catchment hydrology), the evolution of snow cover with climate change and its effect on the ice–albedo feedback and hydrology, both on the ground and by using remote sensing.{{cite book|last1=Mousavi|first1=Seyedmohammad|title=2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) |chapter=Dry snowpack and freshwater icepack remote sensing using wideband Autocorrelation radiometry |date=2016|pages=5288–5291|doi=10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7730377|isbn=978-1-5090-3332-4|s2cid=23975901 }} Snow is also studied in a more global context of impact on animal habitats and plant succession.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jYrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273 |page=273 |title=Advanced Concepts and Techniques in the Study of Snow and Ice Resources: An Interdisciplinary Symposium; [papers] |last1=Santeford |first1=Henry S. |last2=Smith |first2=James Leroy |date=January 1974 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |isbn=9780309022354 }} An important effort is put into snow classification, both as a hydrometeor{{cite web|url=https://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm|title=Snowflakes and Snow Crystals|first=Kenneth G.|last=Libbrecht|website=www.its.caltech.edu}} and on the ground.{{cite web|url=http://www.cryosphericsciences.org/snowClassification.html|title=IACS|website=www.cryosphericsciences.org}}