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Definition:
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(1) The metamorphosis, without melting but not necessarily without advection in the vapour phase, of an assemblage of grains of snow and old crystals of ice to a new assemblage of crystals of ice, generally resulting in changes of mean crystal size and orientation (fabric) and, of most significance for mass-balance purposes, an increase of density. See congelation, infiltration ice, glacier. (2) The formation of a new assemblage of crystals from an old assemblage. Sense 1 is the meaning of the term in studies of the densification of snow, while sense 2 is its everyday meaning.
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