The Electrification of Blowing Snow

[摘要] An analysis is made of available observations on the electrical properties of natural and artificial snowstorms. An explanation for this electrification is given in terms of the Latham-Mason theory of charge transfer associated with temperature gradients in ice. Experiments show that the electrification of blowing snow is intimately related to the temperature gradients in the snow surface at the time of disruption ; the charge acquired by the large and small blown snow particles is explicable qualitatively in terms of the temperature-gradient theory.

[学科分类] 大气科学