{ "model": { "rank": 8734, "code": "thing-q740358", "model_id": "vr.tr.snow-line", "name": "snow line", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the snow line and its kinds, provide values and trends for regions with sources, relate it to glaciers and water, and support mountain travel planning.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QTY", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q740358/", "tier": 2, "score": 50, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 50, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q740358", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q740358", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T22:05:30Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q740358", "registryId": "vr.tr.snow-line", "name": "snow line", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QTY" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q740358/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.snow-line", "name": "snow line", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the snow line and its kinds, provide values and trends for regions with sources, relate it to glaciers and water, and support mountain travel planning.", "definition": "The boundary above which snow persists, either the seasonal snow line separating snow-covered from snow-free ground at a given time or the climatic snow line marking where snow survives year round, varying with latitude, aspect, precipitation and climate; the snow line is used in glaciology, climatology, hydrology and mountain travel and is rising in many regions.", "what_it_is_for": "The altitude boundary of snow cover.", "affordances": [ "explain seasonal and climatic snow lines", "provide regional values and trends", "relate to glaciers and hydrology", "support travel planning" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Altitude boundary", "Varies by aspect and climate", "Seasonal or climatic", "Climate indicator" ], "appearance": "The visible edge between snow-covered and bare ground on a mountainside.", "visual_identification": [ "Boundary of snow cover", "Seasonal or permanent", "The tree line is a different boundary" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "seasonal snow line", "climatic or permanent snow line", "orographic and regional snow lines", "equilibrium line on glaciers (related)" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "boundary", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "snow", "why": "the material" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "summit", "why": "mountain context" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "extreme weather event", "why": "weather influences" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Glaciological and meteorological observation standards" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing seasonal and climatic lines", "Ignoring aspect variation", "Travel hazards above the snow line" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "define", "name": "Define", "description": "What the snow line is.", "rationale": "Definitions.", "layers": [ { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Seasonal and climatic.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the seasonal snow line and the climatic snow line differ, and how are they measured?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "How does the snow line relate to the glacier equilibrium line?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "factors", "name": "Factors", "description": "What sets the snow line.", "findings": [ { "id": "factors-finding", "name": "Factors", "description": "Factors.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why does the snow line vary with latitude, aspect, precipitation and continentality?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What is the snow line altitude in this region, according to sources?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "climate", "name": "Climate", "description": "Snow line and climate.", "rationale": "Trends.", "layers": [ { "id": "trends", "name": "Trends", "description": "Rising snow lines.", "findings": [ { "id": "trends-finding", "name": "Trends", "description": "Trends.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is the snow line changing in this region, according to observations and research?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "What are the implications for glaciers and water supply?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "hydrology", "name": "Hydrology", "description": "Water and ecosystems.", "findings": [ { "id": "hydrology-finding", "name": "Hydrology", "description": "Hydrology.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does the snow line affect river flow, ecosystems and ski areas?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How is snow cover monitored by satellite?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "travel", "name": "Travel", "description": "Above the snow line.", "rationale": "Safety.", "layers": [ { "id": "planning", "name": "Planning", "description": "Planning routes.", "findings": [ { "id": "planning-finding", "name": "Planning", "description": "Planning.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where is the current snow line on this route, according to forecasts and reports, and what equipment does travel above it need?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which avalanche and weather warnings apply?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "emergency", "name": "Emergency", "description": "Emergencies.", "findings": [ { "id": "emergency-finding", "name": "Emergency", "description": "Emergencies.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is someone in difficulty above the snow line now?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "How is mountain rescue contacted here?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Teaching.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching the snow line.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can the snow line be taught in geography and climate classes?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have snow lines been recorded historically, and what do records show?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the equilibrium line be a separate entry?", "How should snow cover data be linked?", "How should travel guidance be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "unit, quantity or measure", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a snow line, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain the snow line and its kinds, provide values and trends for regions with sources, relate it to glaciers and water, and support mountain travel planning.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 50 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a snow line, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see: a unit is a convention. What is seen is an instrument reading in it." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 50 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one snow line from another, and a snow line from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a snow line sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a snow line from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a snow line passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a snow line between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a snow line, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a snow line is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definition-and-realisation", "name": "Definition, dimension and realisation", "description": "What snow line is defined as and how it is realised in practice.", "rationale": "A unit is not the quantity it measures, and its definition has a history that older data still depends on.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition and dimension", "description": "The defining relation and the quantity it measures.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-record", "name": "Definition, body and date", "description": "What defines it now, and what defined it before.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-record-q01", "text": "How is snow line defined, by which body, and since when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-record-q02", "text": "What was the previous definition, and what data still depends on it?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "conversion", "name": "Conversion and compatibility", "description": "Relations to other units, exact or approximate.", "findings": [ { "id": "conversion-record", "name": "Conversions and their exactness", "description": "Factors, and whether each is exact by definition.", "questions": [ { "id": "conversion-record-q01", "text": "What conversions relate snow line to other units, and which are exact by definition?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "conversion-record-q02", "text": "Where does rounding a conversion change a decision, and how should that be recorded?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a snow line came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a snow line and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a snow line is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a snow line, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a snow line, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a snow line is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 10, "questions": 28 } } } }