A micropenetrometer has been developed that produces snow grain bond ruptur
es at the microstructural level and provides a unique signal for different
snow types. A micromechanical theory of penetration has been developed and
used to recover microstructural and micromechanical parameters for differen
t snow types from the penetration force-distance signal. These parameters a
re the microstructural element dimension, the mean grain size, the critical
microstructural deflection at rupture and the microstructural coefficient
of elasticity. Additional derived mechanical properties include the compres
sion strength and elastic modulus of microstructural elements and continuum
scale volumes of snow. Analysis of the force-distance signal from a Monte
Carlo simulation of micropenetration indicates that microstructural and mic
romechanical parameters may be recovered with a measurement accuracy of bet
ter than 5% when spatial and force resolutions are high and the penetromete
r tip area is of similar size to the structure dimension. (C) 1999 Elsevier
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