Explicit iterative computation of diffusive vapour field in the 3-D snow matrix: preliminary results for low flux metamorphism

The metamorphism of seasonal snow is classically considered as limited by vapour diffusion in the pore phase. To account for the lack of knowledge of the ice-vapour reaction coefficient near 0 degrees C, the assumption of a reaction-limited metamorphism was first tested in three-dimensional simulations at low and very low temperature gradients; however, the validity of such results is difficult to verify experimentally. By a reasoned use of traditional iterative schemes, vapour diffusion is now simulated in three dimensions on tomographic snow data, mapping the gradient of vapour pressure near the grains. Repeating this process may provide a way to simulate the isothermal metamorphism without grain packing at a reasonable expense of computation time. Preliminary results are compared with existing computations made within the reaction-limited hypothesis.