Friction on ice is important for many different fields such as winter sports and vehicle traction. In vehicle handling, maximising the friction coefficient between tyres and the ice surface is key to safety. The friction coefficient between tyre rubber and ice has been observed to be as high as unity at low temperatures and as little as 0.05 close to the ice melting temperature. The observed low friction is due to thin water films generated through frictional heating. Little is known about the formation and behaviour of this fluid film and its thickness has been difficult to measure. Previous attempts included techniques such as capacitance, conductivity and fluorescence spectroscopy, however results have been inconsistent. The primary aim of this study was to develop a measurement technique for this lubricating layer, establishing its thickness and the conditions under which its presence results in low friction. This was done by designing a micro-scale linear tribometer (microtribometer) to measure the friction coefficient (μ) on ice under a microscope. Clear ice, and ice with fluorescent particles of various sizes were created. The two ice types were then joined and tested on. During a friction test on the microtribometer, the particles displaced in the direction of sliding due to melt water presence. Images of the ice surface were taken before and after a friction measurement was made, and the amount of particle movement was assessed. The size and displacement of particles were correlated to the range of melt water thickness for a given sliding condition. This study is the first direct measurement method for the melt water layer on ice. Frictional heating is generated through the physical contact of rubber and ice asperities. By conducting friction measurements with rubbers of varying shear modulus (G*) and surface roughness (Ra) on both the microtribometer and on our large–scale tribometer, FRIMA, analysis of the contact can be made over a range of length scales. Further insight into the interfacial effects was provided by surface roughness measurements of both ice and rubber before and ice after microtribometer tests and in FRIMA. Finally, the use of differential interference contrast in reflected light microscopy with ice friction measurements provided visual evidence of the melt water presence. It was found that the melt water thickness based on particle displacement was between 0.1 to 2μm, for a velocity of 4.3 ⇥ 10−4 ms−1 and 0.5MPa nominal load, between –6°C to 0°C. A decreasing film thickness was found with decreasing temperature and the friction coefficient increased with decreasing temperature. At higher temperatures, the differences between the rubbers on both FRIMA and the microtribometer were found to be negligible because of the lubricating layer. Increasing the rubber surface roughness was found to increase at high and decrease friction significantly at low temperatures. These phenomena can be explained by the decreasing amount of solid-solid contact. A simple analytical approach to interpret the results suggests that the rubber compresses significantly and the surface roughness is smoothened upon contact with ice. Furthermore, simple hydrodynamic shear calculations show that pure liquid shear is insufficient to account for the measured low μ values close to melting temperatures. The combined effect of the increasing melt water presence reducing the real contact area and the significant deformation of the rubber asperities failing to compensate for this reduced contact area can account for the results. It is anticipated that these results provide direction for finding ways to improve solid-solid contact between rubber and ice, as there is some viscoelastic dissipation even at conditions close to the melting temperature. Some topics for example are: improving the thermal conductivity of tyre compounds or further investigating the surface roughness of rubber and ice separately and with the thin liquid film in between.

Early 1990s to late 2000s freshening (ΔS ≈ -0.001–0.002) and warming (Δθ ≈ 0.02°C–0.035°C) of bottom waters was detected in the southern Pacific Ocean, and Ross Sea source waters progressively freshened during the past four decades. This study investigates potential freshwater anomaly sources and quantifies their effect. Glacial melt water inputs to the GCT increased by 1.3 km^3 per decade (1976– 2007), more rapidly so after 2000 (6.8 km^3 per decade), freshening local Shelf Water by 0.0004 per decade. Lighter basal melt inputs to the LAT started in 1994 and also picked up after 2000 to 14.9 km^3 per decade, lowering the local Antarctic Surface Water salinity by -0.017 per decade. Upstream in the Amundsen Sea surface water freshened by -0.03 per decade (1994–2007) mostly (50%) from larger melt water inputs from the Pine Island (17.7 km^3 per decade) and Dotson (14.8 km^3 per decade) glaciers. Two decades of steady (1978-2000) strengthening of sea ice productivity (200 km^3 per decade) within the Ross Sea Polynya suddenly reversed to weakening (-98.6 km^3 per decade) and resulted in Shelf Water freshening (-0.02 per decade) thereafter. To fully account for the observed variability in Ross Sea waters, the progressive (1992- 2011) adjustment of the density field and induced advective contributions are estimated based on a simplified three-layer stratification. Eastern (western) inflow (outflow) of light surface (dense shelf) water increased by 28% (15%) to 1.11 Sv (1.01 Sv) by 2011; whereas a sluggish intermediate inflow (0.02 Sv) of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water turned into outflow after 2007, thus contributing 0.09 Sv by 2011 to the ventilation of deep waters farther offshore. The estimated evolution of overturning and advective salt fluxes in the Ross Sea yield overall freshening of water masses similar to those derived from observations. Volumetric mean salinities declined at -0.07 per decade for Antarctic Surface Water, -0.05 per decade for Modified Circumpolar Water, and -0.03 per decade for Shelf Water. Outflow intensification of Shelf Water mixtures is also consistent with bottom water property changes (freshening and warming) measured farther downstream in the southern Pacific Ocean.

The idea of snow cooling in this case is to save snow from winter to summer and to use it for air conditioning and for saving energy in the production of ice in hockey arenas. Today in Sweden, snow power on a large scale is used only on one place, the hospital in Sundsvall. There you’ll find a pond with 70 000 m3 of snow. The melt water in the pond is heated up while cooling down warm air from the hospital, before circulating back to the pond where it regains a low temperature passing through the snow. The idea was to examine the possibility to use such a system in Västerås, at the multiple sports arenas at Rocklunda, partly for air conditioning and partly for ice production. This work was made possible through gathering information on snow storage and on the Sundsvall snow cooling plant, by interviewing people with insight in the Sundsvall hospital and Rocklunda sports arenas and by calculating the electricity consumption, necessary amount of snow and making an LCC-analysis. For air conditioning the melt water would be used like in Sundsvall but for ice production the melt water would be used for condensing the cooling media in the heat pump at a lower temperature then it would do while cooling with air or river water during summer. Annual electricity savings of 120 and 154 MWh for the arenas were made for 2016 and 2017 when using the snow for ice production. For the air conditioning the saving were estimated to around 55 MWh per year. A snow dispatch hatch in one of the hockey arenas made an alternative to a full-scale snow cooling system. Using this hatch for temporal snow power could save up to 62 MWh per year when used for ice production and 38 MWh when used for air conditioning. The estimated costs for construction of said system proved to be too expensive for making a full-scale snow power system a reality. For ice production a storage of 103 000 m3 of snow was needed which made for a result of -57 MSEK in the LCC-analysis. For the air conditioning alone, a storage of 6 000 m3 was needed which made for a result of -4.2 MSEK. The snow dispose hatch, even without the need of snow storage, resulted in -5.9 MSEK for ice production and -1.6 MSEK for air conditioning. With more thoroughly estimations of the investment costs, together with global warming and thus bigger potential for saving energy, this might be a promising investment in the future.

From the Proceedings of the 1975 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 11-12, 1975, Tempe, Arizona / Arizona's continued growth and development depends upon sound management of water resources, especially melted snow which is the primary source of water for the 1.1. Million residents of Maricopa county. The method for snowpack information gathering practiced by watershed specialists of the Salt River project in Arizona is described. The method is outlined, describing aircraft reconnaissance, direct enroute mapping of extent and depth of snowpack, and techniques for identifying ice and/or melt conditions. Under optimal conditions, this technique is considered more than acceptable for determining snowpack levels. Limitations of the technique result from the observer's tolerance of vertigo which can arise under flying conditions; cloud cover, which can reduce contrast and shadows thereby reducing accuracy of observation; and vegetation zones where density of plant matter screens much of the snow.

From the Proceedings of the 1978 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 14-15, 1978, Flagstaff, Arizona / In an effort to improve the methods of forecasting the amount and timing of snowmelt, a primary source of water in Arizona, significant regression equations are developed over a selected measurement period to relate global, direct, and diffuse solar radiation to: (1) the cloud-cover of specific cloud genera, (2) the hour before or after solar noon, and (3) the potential solar radiation. Three regression equations are derived from cloud-cover imagery and solar radiation data collected from two sites in Arizona 's Ponderosa pine forests, Schnebly Hill, and Alpine, in the hope that regression models will be useful in the simulation of snowpack dynamics.

Future sea level rise associated to global warming is one of the greatest societal and environmental challenges of tomorrow. A large part of the contribution comes from glaciers and ice sheets discharging ice and meltwater into the ocean and the recent worldwide increase is worrying. Future predictions of sea level rise try to encompass the complex processes of ice dynamics through glacier modelling but there are still large uncertainties due to the lack of observations or too coarse parameterisation, particularly for processes occurring at the glacier interfaces with the bed (sliding) and with the ocean (calving). This thesis focuses on modelling these processes from two marine-terminating glaciers in Svalbard, Kronebreen and Tunabreen. By inverting three years of high temporal resolution time-series of surface velocities on Kronebreen, basal properties are retrieved with the ice flow model Elmer/Ice in Paper I. Results suggest that surface melt during the summer greatly influences the dynamics of the following season and that sliding laws for such glaciers should be adapted to local and global processes changing in space and time. The subglacial drainage system, fed by the surface melt, is modelled in Paper II during two melting seasons. Results show different configurations of efficient and inefficient drainage systems between years and the importance of using a sliding law dependent on spatio-temporal changes in effective pressure. The interaction with the ocean is incorporated in Paper III by combining a series of models, including an ice flow model, a plume model and a particle model for discrete calving and compares the output with observations. Results show the importance of glacier geometry, sliding and undercutting on calving rate and location. However, more observations and analytic methods are needed. Time-lapse imagery placed in front of Tunabreen have been deployed and a method of automatic detection for iceberg calving is presented in Paper IV. Results show the influence of the rising plume in calving and the front destabilisation of the local neighbourhood.