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When two species share the same local settling velocity, their total particle volume fraction supports a nonlinear kinematic wave, while their relative composition is transported as a contact-like wave at the common particle speed.

A hydrograph records discharge against time at a fixed location. A nonlinear kinematic wave can steepen an upstream increase into a sharp front; longitudinal diffusion or additional storage rounds the resulting rise.

First neglect inertia relative to the $O(ϵ)$ pressure correction, requiring $F\ll 1$ for smooth fields on these scales. The positive velocity isMultiplying by area gives the discharge $Q=A^{5/4}-(ϵ/4)A^{3/4}{A}_x+O({ϵ}^2)$. HenceThe leading equation is a nonlinear kinematic wave equation. The pressure correction has positive diffusion coefficient for $A>0$ and smooths steep gradients. Dropped terms are $O({ϵ}^2)$ and inertial terms $O(ϵF)$ on the assumed scales; sufficiently thin fronts require a separate balance rather than an unrestricted Taylor expansion.

With both ice accumulation and ice ablation removed, the equation is $h_t+x^{-1}(xD{h}^3{)}_x=0$ and the conserved volume is $V_0=2\pi \cos \alpha M$, where $M={\int }_0^{x_N}xhdx$.

If the thickness and extent scales are $H(t)$ and $X(t)$, mass conservation gives $H{X}^2\sim M$, while the flow equation gives $H/t\sim D{H}^3/X$. Therefore $X\propto t^{1/5}$ and $H\propto t^{-2/5}$. Set $h={\tau }^{-2/5}f(\xi )$, $\xi =x{\tau }^{-1/5}$, with a possible virtual time origin $\tau =t+t_0$. The similarity solution satisfiesIntegration and regular zero total flux at the apex give $D\xi f^3={\xi }^{2}f/5$, hence the positive profile iswith dry bed beyond the front. Volume normalization givesso the volume-conserving conical ice-current similarity solution hasThe terminus has finite thickness and is a shock wave in the gravity-only kinematic wave equation. The Rankine-Hugoniot condition gives ${\dot{x}}_N=q_N/h_N=D{h}_N^2=x_N/(5\tau )$, exactly agreeing with the similarity extent. The characteristic speed behind the front is $3D{h}_N^2$, larger than its speed, while the dry-bed characteristic speed is zero, so the front is compressive and gives an entropy solution.

This solution describes the long-time spreading, rather than exactly matching the earlier steady profile at the instant snowfall stops. The initial transient can be described by the characteristic transformation for conical ice drainage: with starting point $s$, put $K(s)=s^{1/3}{h}_s(s)$; thenwhere characteristics remain smooth. Subsequent crossings are resolved by the same conservation and entropy conditions. Restoring the neglected local pressure gradient would smooth the idealized front.

Setwhere $s>0$. Applying first-order perturbation of a simple eigenvalue to the flux Jacobian, or expanding its quadratic formula directly, separates the characteristic that changes total concentration from the characteristic that changes composition:At $ϵ=0$, both species move with the common hindered velocity $\hat{W}(1-s)$. Summing their conservation laws givesso the total concentration is a nonlinear kinematic wave:Taking the ratio $c={\varphi }_1/s$ instead gives the composition wave in a bidisperse suspensionand henceThese are the requested leading-order ordinary differential equations along the two characteristic families.

For $A=2\cot \alpha /3+8\mathrm{Re}/15>0$, maximize the growth rate $\sigma (k)=\epsilon (A{k}^2-S{k}^4)$ over real wavenumbers. Its derivative is $2\epsilon k(A-2S{k}^2)$, soThe second derivative at either nonzero maximizer is $-4\epsilon A<0$. If $A\le 0$, there is no positive growth rate in this model.

To compare growth with transport, restore dimensions. With $\epsilon =h_0/L$ and $S=2\gamma /(3\rho g{L}^2\sin \alpha )$, the maximal dimensional growth rate isThe corresponding dimensional wavenumber is $k^{\ast }/L=\sqrt{3\rho g\sin \alpha A/(4\gamma )}$, independent of the arbitrary reference length $L$. Let $d$ be the physical slope length. A disturbance convected at the leading kinematic wave speed $2U_0$ has residence time $d/(2U_0)$ and accumulates the growth exponentThus $d\ll \ell$ implies $N\ll 1$, and the amplitude multiplier $e^N$ remains close to one while the disturbance passes down the slope. This is the requested convective amplification length criterion. With the exact coefficients used here, one e-fold of convected growth occurs at $d=2\ell /3$; the stated much-less-than criterion is unaffected by this order-one factor. It is a transport-versus-growth estimate within the long-wave approximation, rather than a boundary-value stability theorem for every possible inlet and outlet condition.

After ice accumulation and ice ablation cease, the similarity solution conserving $M=\int xhdx$ isIt is dry outside this interval. At its terminus the thickness $h_N$ is nonzero: the Rankine-Hugoniot condition gives ${\dot{x}}_N=q_N/h_N=D{h}_N^2=x_N/(5\tau )$. This is an entropy solution of the gravity-only kinematic wave model and a long-time approximation for general finite-volume initial profiles. Local pressure-gradient effects smooth the idealized discontinuous front.