The mass balance of a dry snow surface during a snowstorm

Publisher： International Glaciological Society

ISSN： 1727-5644

Source： Annals of Glaciology, Vol.38, Iss.1, 2004-01, pp. : 79-83

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the surface mass balance of a horizontally homogeneous snowfield, with emphasis on the effects of snowdrift sublimation. A one dimensional model of the atmospheric boundary layer that includes snowdrift physics and thermodynamics is used. In sufficiently strong winds, snow particles are eroded from the surface. Once airborne, they are susceptible to sublimation. Averaged over longer time periods, the net erosive flux equals sublimation of snowdrift. However, model results show that there is no such balance in the course of a snowstorm event. They also indicate that snowdrift sublimation tends to enhance net erosion, but the increase occurs more slowly than the mass transfer by snowdrift sublimation, and the maximum is smaller. This difference in temporal behaviour influences the average erosion rate owing to non-linear interactions between snowdrift sublimation, drift density and erosion. Since the increase in relative humidity due to snowdrift diminishes surface sublimation, the average change in total ablation induced by snowdrift sublimation remains small. Observations made during snowdrift episodes in Antarctica agree qualitatively with some of the model results.