Journal of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice

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specific surface area per unit volume (SSAv) of snow samples of various types was measured by the stereological method, and the mean grain size (dg) and the mean pore size (dp) of the samples were measured by the run-length method. These samples were collected at several sites in Hokkaido Prefecture and at one site in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, over the four winters. All snow samples were dry, with densities (ρs) ranging between 88 and 494 kgm-3 .SSAv ranged from 1.50 to 9.98 mm-1 ,dg from 0.03 to 0.89 mm, and dp from 0.28 to 2.26 mm. We obtained the prediction formula for SSAv using dg and ρs; SSAv= 0.2435 dg-1 e 0.0048ρs Additionally, SSAv was found to be inversely proportional to dp. The prediction formula is sensitive to dg rather than ρs. While it overestimated SSAv by approximately 13% in comparison with the stereological method, it was able to accurately estimate the variation of the SSAv caused by the difference between snow types.

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