The impacts of moisture transport on drifting snow sublimation in the  saltation layer

Huang, Ning; Dai, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Jie

doi:10.5194/acp-16-7523-2016

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This model is applicable for occurrent snowfall event or early stage after a snowfall event so far. The drifting snow sublimation (Dai & Huang, ; Huang & Shi, ; Huang et al, ; Pomeroy et al, ) in both saltation and suspension layer is planned to introduce into the model in a future version. Remote sensing data and Snowpack model are also our future outlook (Figure ), to make the model more comprehensive for regional hydrological research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Snow Distribution Model Based on Snowfall and Snow Drifting Simulations in Mountain Area

Wang

Huang

2018

JGR Atmospheres

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Snow distribution modeling is important to hydrological research of alpine catchments, for the temporal and spatial evolution of snow cover has significant influence on snowmelt runoff. However, few snow distribution models have considered the slope effect on drifting snow transport. In this work, a drifting snow parameterization scheme considering the slope effect is proposed, and a snow distribution model based on snowfall and snow drifting simulations is established for alpine terrain. The validation wind‐tunnel experiments and field observations show high accuracy of our model in snow depth evaluation. Then we have analyzed the snow deposition patterns of complex terrain in detail. The results show different deposition patterns for snowfall and drifting snow, for deposition patterns for snowfall are controlled by both terrain and wind, while deposition patterns for drifting snow are mainly dominantly controlled by terrain, and the erosion or deposition rate is sensitive to the local wind speed. This work has considerable value in improving the accuracy of snow distribution prediction in alpine area, which we believe is essential for hydrological research of alpine catchments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Snow Distribution Model Based on Snowfall and Snow Drifting Simulations in Mountain Area

Wang

Huang

2018

JGR Atmospheres

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“…Therefore, sublimation associated with these layers is not accounted for. Other studies have shown that drifting snow sublimation within the salutation layer can be very significant (Huang et al, 2016). There is a further point to be made with respect to clouds that relates to (5).…”

Section: Error Analysismentioning

confidence: 98%

Blowing snow sublimation and transport over Antarctica from 11 years of CALIPSO observations

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Blowing snow processes commonly occur over the earth's ice sheets when the 10 m wind speed exceeds a threshold value. These processes play a key role in the sublimation and redistribution of snow thereby influencing the surface mass balance. Prior field studies and modeling results have shown the importance of blowing snow sublimation and transport on the surface mass budget and hydrological cycle of high-latitude regions. For the first time, we present continent-wide estimates of blowing snow sublimation and transport over Antarctica for the period 2006-2016 based on direct observation of blowing snow events. We use an improved version of the blowing snow detection algorithm developed for previous work that uses atmospheric backscatter measurements obtained from the CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) lidar aboard the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) satellite. The blowing snow events identified by CALIPSO and meteorological fields from MERRA-2 are used to compute the blowing snow sublimation and transport rates. Our results show that maximum sublimation occurs along and slightly inland of the coastline. This is contrary to the observed maximum blowing snow frequency which occurs over the interior. The associated temperature and moisture reanalysis fields likely contribute to the spatial distribution of the maximum sublimation values. However, the spatial pattern of the sublimation rate over Antarctica is consistent with modeling studies and precipitation estimates. Overall, our results show that the 2006-2016 Antarctica average integrated blowing snow sublimation is about 393 ± 196 Gt yr −1 , which is considerably larger than previous model-derived estimates. We find maximum blowing snow transport amount of 5 Mt km −1 yr −1 over parts of East Antarctica and estimate that the average snow transport from continent to ocean is about 3.7 Gt yr −1 . These continent-wide estimates are the first of their kind and can be used to help model and constrain the surface mass budget over Antarctica.

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“…However, although numerous experimental (Bintanja, ; Mann et al, ; Schmidt, ; Wever et al, ) and theoretical studies (Déry & Yau, ; Groot Zwaaftink et al, ; Vionnet et al, ; Xiao et al, ) on drifting snow sublimation have been conducted, sublimation of drifting snow within the saltation layer (the near‐surface layer in which most particles move in characteristic ballistic hops) is only rarely investigated (Dai & Huang, ; Huang et al, ; Sharma et al, ) as the air humidity near the surface saturates rapidly when drifting snow occurs because of a high snow concentration (Bintanja, , ; Mann et al, ). However, because of moisture transportation, there are always slight deviations from the saturated state, which give rise to snow sublimation, and the impact of such deviations has not yet been quantified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Turbulence on Drifting Snow Sublimation

Wang

Huang

Pähtz

2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Sublimation of drifting snow, which is significant for the balances of mass and energy of the polar ice sheet, is a complex physical process with intercoupling between ice crystals, wind field, temperature, and moisture. Here a three-dimensional drifting snow sublimation model in a turbulent boundary layer is proposed. In contrast to most previous models, it takes into account turbulent diffusion of moisture from lower to higher elevations, allowing the air humidity near the surface to be undersaturated and thus sublimation to occur. From simulations with this model, we find that snow sublimation in the saltation layer near the surface dominates overall snow sublimation, despite an only marginal departure from humidity saturation (<1%), because of a large particle concentration.

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The impacts of moisture transport on drifting snow sublimation in the saltation layer

Cited by 25 publications

References 28 publications

A Snow Distribution Model Based on Snowfall and Snow Drifting Simulations in Mountain Area

A Snow Distribution Model Based on Snowfall and Snow Drifting Simulations in Mountain Area

Blowing snow sublimation and transport over Antarctica from 11 years of CALIPSO observations

The Effect of Turbulence on Drifting Snow Sublimation

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