ANALYSIS OF SNOW RECLAMATION EFFICIENCY OF LAND

Purpose: to develop a new criterion for assessing the thermal efficiency of snow reclamation using snow cover compaction and to assess the winter reclamation efficiency to increase the moisture capacity of snow cover. Materials and methods. The heat flow on the frozen ground surface was investigated in the presence of snow cover with different thermal resistance; a method for assessing the effect of snow reclamation on moisture reserves in the snow cover was proposed. Results. It is shown that the convective component in the heat transfer coefficient can be neglected for most cases of practical interest, when calculating the specific heat flow from the ground to the atmosphere in the presence of snow cover on the surface. An indicator of the thermal efficiency of winter reclamation in the permafrost zone by compacting the snow cover is proposed, based on the change in the initial specific heat flow to achieve a given ground surface temperature before and after snow compaction. A new scientific concept on the quantitative relationship between the degree of change in the specific heat flow and the compaction coefficient of the snow cover is substantiated. A simple method for assessing quantitatively the effect of snow reclamation on changes in the degree of moisture capacity of the snow cover is proposed. Conclusions. It has been established that the degree of the heat flow increase on the soil surface during snow cover compaction is directly proportional to the squared compaction coefficient and does not depend on the thermophysical properties of soil and snow. Snow reclamation by regulating the degree of snow compaction allows achieving an effect both in the permafrost zone for the restoration of agricultural lands disturbed by thermokarst and for increasing moisture reserves in the snow cover when using winter reclamation in the forest-steppe zone. On average, for typical agricultural conditions in the forest-steppe zone, snow reclamation allows to increase the specific snow reserve (m³/ha) at the beginning of snow cover melting almost twofold.