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Water Losses During Technical Snow Production: Results From Field Experiments

T. Grünewald,F. Wolfsperger

Published 2019 in Frontiers in Earth Science

ABSTRACT

Alpine and Nordic skiing tourism strongly depend on the production of machine-made snow to ensure adequate amount of snow and well-timed season opening. Significant portions of the deployed water, however, are thought to be lost to sublimation, evaporation and wind drift while traveling through the air, and to drainage of unfrozen water on the ground. The relation between these water losses and the ambient meteorological conditions is poorly understood. We present results from a series of 12 detailed snow-making field tests performed in a ski resort near Davos, Switzerland. Water inflows, measured at the snow machine are related to the mass of snow deposited on the ground. Snow amounts are calculated from accumulated volumes, measured with terrestrial laser scanning, and manually sampled snow densities. Additionally, samples of liquid water contents of the produced snow are presented. We find that 7 to 35±7% (mean 21%) of the consumed water was lost during snow making and that the loss is strongly related to the ambient meteorological conditions. Linear regression analysis shows that water losses increase with air temperature. Combining our data with observations from earlier field measurements shows similar correlations.

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