Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2892
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2892
02 Jan 2024
 | 02 Jan 2024

Unlocking the Potential of Melting Calorimetry: A Field Protocol for Liquid Water Content Measurement in Snow

Riccardo Barella, Mathias Bavay, Francesca Carletti, Nicola Ciapponi, Valentina Premier, and Carlo Marin

Abstract. Melting calorimetry, a classic experiment conducted in high school chemistry laboratories using calorimeters made from coffee cups, holds untapped potential beyond its educational context. Despite the fact that in the past this technique has been successfully used to measure the liquid water content in snow, its widespread adoption was impeded as it is often unjustly associated with generating large measurement errors. This paper shows how this technique can be incorporated in a rigorous field protocol to measure the liquid water content in the snow providing also a quantification of the uncertainty associated to the measurements. The results presented here encourage the use of melting calorimetry in all cases where liquid water content of the snow has to be quantified.

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Unlocking the potential of melting calorimetry, traditionally confined to school labs, this...
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