Speed and attenuation of acoustic waves in snow: Laboratory experiments and modeling with Biot's theory

•Acoustic wave propagation speed and attenuation coefficient in snow were studied.•Experimental results were compared to Boit's model for porous material predictions.•Young's modulus of snow was derived from the acoustic properties.•Evolution of the elastic properties of snow in time was studied.

Monitoring acoustic emissions (AE) prior to imminent failure is considered a promising technique for assessing snow slope instability. Gaps in elastic wave propagation characteristics in snow hinder quantitative interpretation of AE signals. Our study focuses on characterizing the propagation of acoustic reference signals in the ultrasonic range across cylindrical snow samples with varying density (240-450 kg m− 3). We deduced the acoustic attenuation coefficient within snow by performing experiments with different column lengths to eliminate possible influences of the snow-sensor coupling. The attenuation coefficient was measured for the entire burst signal and for single frequency components in the range of 8 to 35 kHz. The acoustic wave propagation speed, calculated from the travel time of the acoustic signal, varied between 300 m s− 1 and 950 m s− 1, depending on the density and hardness of snow. From the sound speed we also estimated the Young's modulus of our snow samples; the values of the modulus ranged from 30 to 340 MPa for densities between 240 and 450 kg m− 3. In addition, we modeled the sound propagation for our experimental setup using Biot's model for wave propagation in a porous medium. The model results were in good agreement with our experimental results and suggest that our acoustic signals consisted of Biot's slow and fast waves. Our results can be used to improve the identification and localization of acoustic emission sources within snow in view of assessing snow slope instability.