A Calorimeter for Measuring Free Water Content of Wet Snow

Abstract

A new calorimeter was designed for measuring the free water content of wet snow, aiming at simplicity in mechanism and handling as well as high accuracy and speed in measurements. The mass of hot water to melt the sample and the mass of the mixture (snow sample and hot water) are measurable indoors with sufficient accuracy; therefore, in the field we need only two measurements of temperature (T and T ); this calorimeter reduces the time of measurement of one snow sample to four or five minutes. Using artificially made wet snow, having a known value of free water content, 121 tests were conducted. Standard deviation of the error was 0.82%