Sea ice plays a critical role in the Arctic by providing habitats, buttressing tidewater glaciers, stabilising ocean currents and regulating the Earth's climate by reflecting solar radiation, all of which can have a ripple effect on global weather patterns. The Arctic is experiencing unprecedented change, and warming of the Arctic is occurring faster than the rest of the planet. About half of the sea ice area in the Arctic has been lost since satellite monitoring began 40 years ago, and the region now contains predominantly younger sea ice. One consequence of the diminishing sea ice is increased precipitation (more snow in the winter season and more rain events in the summer), which has unknown implications for the energy budget of the Arctic sea ice system. To improve the modelling and monitoring of Arctic sea ice and reduce uncertainties in predictions, we first need to understand internal processes occurring in the snow that influence energy budget components. [...]