Thermally Absorptive Blankets for Highly Efficient Snowbank Melting.

Fallen snow is one of the most reflective surfaces found in nature. As a result, snowbanks can take many weeks to melt even when the air temperature is above freezing. Here, we introduce a simple and passive method for quickly melting snowbanks by draping a thermally absorptive blanket over the snow. Using controlled experimental conditions, it was observed that snowbanks can melt 300% faster when a thermally absorptive blanket is placed on top. The mechanism is the threefold increase in absorptivity of the spray-coated blanket compared to bare snow, which allows the vast majority of the irradiation to be used to overcome the latent heat of fusion.