Slope angle/aspect and sun-cups??

From my gaperish cursory reading it does not appear his models take into account slope angle.

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... Curiously, one of the best of those papers was written in 2000 by a woman who had been my college classmate several years earlier, and she was just writing about suncups for fun, her real research being in theoretical physics. ...

<br>"His" model is actually HER model. That paper you link to is the same one I referred to above, written by Meredith Betterton, who was my classmate at Princeton and the only woman among 22 physics majors graduating in 1994 (such numbers reflect the hardships and chauvinism faced by women in the field of physics, and the situation is only slowly improving, but that's another story). She's a professor in applied math at Boulder now. <br><br>Despite that paper being among the best on the subject of suncups in many decades, it has not spurred further scientific research on suncups. There are only two papers written since 2001 which cite that paper, one about streamflow prediction and the other about ablation on comets (!). It appears that either scientists are not interested in studying suncups or that funding agencies frown upon supporting such studies.<br>

His" model is actually HER model. That paper you link to is the same one I referred to above, written by Meredith Betterton, who was my classmate at Princeton and the only woman among 22 physics majors graduating in 1994 (such numbers reflect the hardships and chauvinism faced by women in the field of physics, and the situation is only slowly improving, but that's another story). She's a professor in applied math at Boulder now.

<br><br>My sincere apologies to this very smart and giften women, that was pretty gaperish of me to mistake gender. I just now Googled and found her homepage , highlights of which are a link to " Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics ". Apparently Britney is an expert in, "the fundamentals of the vital laser components that have made it possible to hear her super music in a digital format"(sic). Your classmate has a healthy sense of humor.

Thanks for pulling this timely topic out to discuss. I have spent a very good share of my time recently hiking and skiing at Sunrise (Test Area #1). <br>I noticed the changes in the sun cups.<br>Conditions-Three days consisted of temps in the day mid to upper 60's partial sun to mostly sunny (non-direct). Northwest wind of 12 mph plus up bowls and on ridges ~ calm in basins. Cooling with clouds at 5pm to drop to low 40's upper 30's at night. North West slope~angle 30 to 35 degrees <br>Sun Cups initially at the time of observation on day one- Snow-Consolidated snow softened to 1-½ inches on surface. They formed a boomerang shape Sun Cup that pointed facing down hill and raised 2 to 3 plus inches. The wind was warm and blowing directly up slope. Dirt on some areas of snow and clean on other areas had no noticeable affect on sun cupping either way. <br>Day two same weather conditions, slopes, although Sun Cups reduced in size by about one inch. I figured a combination of melting from the warm wind -cups still not forming, but reducing. <br>Day 3 even more reduction of the cups no boomerang shape anymore. Perfect skiing corn snow.<br>My undereducated, but powers of observation led me to believe that wind direction can possibly reduce sun cupping. Given the proper wind direction (uphill) Wind Speed warm winds to evaporate the water before it pools and friction on the front of sun cups will reduce the size of the sun cups and snow pack, To continue my theory-There were same aspect slopes that had small runnels and odd shapes varying from old avy debris to funky sun cupped shapes. I would not ski because I had enough spots to ski that were better. I left that chute untouched untracked for one week of similar wind conditions. The next week the wind had done its magic and the slope was nearly smooth due to wind evaporation. The basins where wind was calmer and more level had formed larger sun cups –Go figure?<br>

Hi folks: <br><br>I found this board while I was looking for more info on suncups. I do not do a great deal of Backcountry skiing, but I do a lot of climbing. I have seen suncups on a relatively flat slope before, less than 30 degree incline. This was in a canyon, boxed in on three sides on Grand Teton. The canyon was open almost exactly due east...<br><br>Just as a thought, you might want to try the climbers on Rainier. Last time I was there, I saw none, but they are reported to be a common sight. You could either get data from those who see them, or even take the reports, and go up there yourself. <br>

Just as a thought, you might want to try the climbers on Rainier.

<br>Good idea. I wonder if there is anyone familiar with Rainier on this forum?