Névé is a young, granular type of
snow
Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow can contribute to
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
formation through the process of ''
nivation
Nivation is the set of geomorphic processes associated with snow patches. The primary processes are mass wasting and the freeze-and-thaw cycle, in which fallen snow gets compacted into firn or névé. The importance of the processes covered by the ...
''. Névé that survives a full season of
ablation
Ablation ( – removal) is the removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosion, erosive processes, or by other means. Examples of ablative materials are described below, including spacecraft material for as ...
turns into
firn
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Firn (; from Swiss German "last year's", cognate with ''before'') is partially compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé. It is ice that ...
, which is both older and slightly denser. Firn eventually becomes glacial ice – the long-lived, compacted ice that glaciers are composed of. Glacier formation can take years to hundreds of years, depending on freeze-thaw factors and snow-compaction rates. Névé is annually observed in
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
slopes, and is generally disliked as an icy falling zone.
Névé has a minimum
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...
of 500 kg/m
3, which is
roughly half of the density of liquid water at 1
atm.
Névé can also refer to the
alpine region in which snowfall accumulates, becomes névé, and feeds a glacier.
See also
*
Suncup
Notes
External links
*
Water ice
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it:Formazioni nevose perenni#Nevaio