Snow insulation and summer ice protection

At fixed boundary temperatures, a snow cover decreases winter conductive heat loss through the resistance $h_s/k_s+h_i/k_i$ and inhibits sea ice growth. Its high albedo and persistence into summer reduce ablation. Therefore annual equilibrium thickness has competing snow sensitivities. The near cancellation at modest snow depth and thickening with persistent summer snow in the original Maykut-Untersteiner model are forcing-dependent responses, not a universal monotonically decreasing snow-thickness relation.