Why does dense snow conduct heat differently from loose snow?

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ice in lakes and rivers Heat flow through an ice cover (see text).

The thermal conductivity of snow is directly related to its density. Dense snow conducts heat more effectively than loose snow because its thermal conductivity increases as the density of the snow increases.1

Specifically, the thermal conductivity of snow ranges from approximately 0.1 to 0.5 watts per metre kelvin as the density increases from 200 to 500 kilograms per cubic metre. Because snow acts as an insulator that resists the flow of heat from the surface of underlying ice to the air above, variations in its density significantly influence how much heat is transferred through the snow cover.12