Suncup (snow)

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Suncups on a snow patch near Gibby Beam, UK.

Suncups are bowl-shaped open depressions into a

pattern is quasi-periodic on 20–80 cm scales.[1][2] The depressions are typically 2–50 cm deep.[3]

Suncups form during the ablation (melting away) of snowy surfaces. It is thought they can form in a number of different ways. These include melting of clean snow by incident solar radiation in bright sunny conditions,[3] but also during melting away of dirty snow under windy or overcast conditions, during which particles in the snow accumulate on the crests between hollows, insulating them.[4]

See also

References