(of water) The condition of low liquid water content where a continuous air space as well as discontinuous volumes of water coexist in a snowpack, i.e., air-ice, water-ice, and air- liquid interfaces
are all found. Grain-to-grain bonds give strength. The volume fraction of free water does not exceed 8%, i.e., the wetness index is 3 (see also funicular regime).
A spike or pillar of compacted snow, firn, or glacier ice caused by differential melting and evaporation. It is the extreme relief of sun cups found most often at high altitudes in low latitude region
s; the resulting spikes resemble repentant souls.
A spike-like irregularity of the glacier surface, significantly taller than wide and on occasion reaching heights as great as a few metres. Penitentes are an extreme form of the metre-scale roughness
which must be accounted for in all ablation measurements using stakes. They are usually found together in large numbers when low temperature and intense solar radiation favour ablation by sublimation and the consequent amplification of small surface irregularities. The word is Spanish and is generally not Anglicized; the final e is retained (and pronounced).
A spike or pillar of compacted snow, firn, or glacier ice caused by differential melting and evaporation. Necessary for this formation are 1) air temperature near freezing; 2) dewpoint much below free
zing; and 3) strong insolation. Consequently, penitent ice is most developed on low-latitude mountains, especially the Chilean Andes, but has been found in polar regions. Penitents are oriented individually toward the noonday sun, and usually occur in east-west lines. The term is derived from the Spanish nieve penitente (penitent snow), which is still widely used throughout the literature.