On the evolution of snow roughness during snow fall
On the evolution of snow roughness during snow fall
The deposition and attachment mechanism of settling snow crystals during snowfall dictates the very initial structure of ice within a natural snowpack. In this letter we apply ballistic deposition as a simple model to study the structural evolution of the growing surface of a snowpack during its formation. The roughness of the snow surface is predicted from the behaviour of the time dependent height correlation function. The predictions are verified by simple measurements of the growing snow surface based on digital photography during snowfall. The measurements are in agreement with the theoretical predictions within the limitations of the model which are discussed. The application of ballistic deposition type growth models illuminates structural aspects of snow from the perspective of formation which has been ignored so far. Implications of this type of growth on the aerodynamic roughness length, density, and the density correlation function of new snow are discussed
L21507-[5pp]
Lowe, H.
47a847ce-d219-46cf-9112-e6eb0f229fc9
Egli, L.
09f83dba-7788-406c-8035-8bac97be1bc9
Bartlett, S.J.
6e10c1a9-5426-4982-9c51-2f3350c50887
Guala, M.
f5c0d890-4ebc-419e-8fad-00f765277195
Manes, C.
7d9d5123-4d1b-4760-beff-d82fe0bd0acf
14 November 2007
Lowe, H.
47a847ce-d219-46cf-9112-e6eb0f229fc9
Egli, L.
09f83dba-7788-406c-8035-8bac97be1bc9
Bartlett, S.J.
6e10c1a9-5426-4982-9c51-2f3350c50887
Guala, M.
f5c0d890-4ebc-419e-8fad-00f765277195
Manes, C.
7d9d5123-4d1b-4760-beff-d82fe0bd0acf
Lowe, H., Egli, L., Bartlett, S.J., Guala, M. and Manes, C.
(2007)
On the evolution of snow roughness during snow fall.
Geophysical Research Letters, 34, .
(doi:10.1029/2007GL031637).
Abstract
The deposition and attachment mechanism of settling snow crystals during snowfall dictates the very initial structure of ice within a natural snowpack. In this letter we apply ballistic deposition as a simple model to study the structural evolution of the growing surface of a snowpack during its formation. The roughness of the snow surface is predicted from the behaviour of the time dependent height correlation function. The predictions are verified by simple measurements of the growing snow surface based on digital photography during snowfall. The measurements are in agreement with the theoretical predictions within the limitations of the model which are discussed. The application of ballistic deposition type growth models illuminates structural aspects of snow from the perspective of formation which has been ignored so far. Implications of this type of growth on the aerodynamic roughness length, density, and the density correlation function of new snow are discussed
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Lowe_et_al_2007
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Published date: 14 November 2007
Organisations:
Energy & Climate Change Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 204097
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/204097
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: 323b30b2-6237-425b-85be-aef511c4358f
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Date deposited: 24 Nov 2011 11:29
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:29
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Contributors
Author:
H. Lowe
Author:
L. Egli
Author:
S.J. Bartlett
Author:
M. Guala
Author:
C. Manes
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