What is conductive heat flow?
1. When water freezes, latent heat is produced. 2. In the case of water freezing on the bottom of a lake ice (or sea ice) cover, the latent heat is conducted through the ice and snow to the atmosphere along the negative temperature gradients (red). 3. The magnitude of the conductive heat flow is determined by the thermal conductivity of and the temperature gradients in the snow and ice. The latter are a function of the depth of the snow and ice, and the temperature at the top and bottom of the snow surface and at the bottom of the ice. 4. To calculate the conductive heat flow from the bottom of the ice to the top of the snow, we only need to know the snow variables (depth, top and bottom temperature, density [from which we derive thermal conductivity]).
