Snow depth and snow density at Resolute Northwest Territories

Observations of the snow depth at 21 sites at Resolute were made twice weekly during the winter of 1957-58. As a result of these observations and of other observations on snow made for the National Research Council, it is shown that the snow depth and the water content of the snow did not continue to increase during the winter as the snow fell. Rather the strong winds eroded the snow surface and the increase in depth was irregular and relatively slow. Furthermore, the observations on the density of the snow cover lead to the conclusion that attempts to measure the density in similar regions with accuracy greater than 0.05 g. c m.-3 are not warranted.Pendant l'hiver 1957-58 on a pris des mesures deux fois par semaine de l'\ue9paisseur de laneige a 21 endroits a Resolute. Par suite de ces observations et d'autres observations de la neige faites pour le Conseil National de Recherches, on a pu montrer que l'\ue9paisseur et la valeur en eau de la neige n'allaient pas croissant pendant l?hiver au fur et a mesure des pr\ue9cipitations. II semble plut\uf4t que des vents forts ont \ue9rode la surface de la neige de sorte que l?\ue9paisseur s'augmentait de mani\ue8re irr\ue9guli\ue8re et relativement lente. De plus. des observations de la densit\ue9 de la couche neigeuse laissent conclure qu?aucun essai de mesure de la densit\ue9 dans les r\ue9gions analogues a un degr\ue9 de pr\ue9cision sup\ue9rieur a 0,5 g cm-3 ne puisse \ueatre valable.Reprinted from Journal of Glaciology, vol. 3, no. 28, October 1960 pp. 733-738Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye