Articles | Volume 14, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2755-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2755-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Aug 2020
Research article |
| 28 Aug 2020
| 28 Aug 2020
Quantifying the impact of synoptic weather types and patterns on energy fluxes of a marginal snowpack
Andrew J. Schwartz
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Atmospheric Observations Research Group, University of Queensland,
Brisbane, 4072, Australia
Hamish A. McGowan
Atmospheric Observations Research Group, University of Queensland,
Brisbane, 4072, Australia
Alison Theobald
Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government,
Brisbane, 4000, Australia
Nik Callow
School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western
Australia, Perth, 6009, Australia
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Andrew Schwartz, Hamish McGowan, Alison Theobald, and Nik Callow
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-48, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-48, 2019
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Understanding the relationship between weather and snowmelt is increasingly important as snowpacks undergo reductions due to climate change. Impacts of weather patterns on snowmelt in Australia's Snowy Mountains were identified through the use of weather pattern data and in-situ energy measurements. We found that maximum snowmelt occurs prior to the passage of cold fronts, teleconnections have an impact on snowmelt, and energy available for snowmelt has decreased slightly in the last 39 years.
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Understanding air-sea heat exchange is vital for studying ocean dynamics. Eddy Covariance measurements over the Gulf of Eilat revealed a 3.22 m year-1 evaporation rate. Inconsistent with bulk formulae estimation in stable atmospheric conditions. Requiring bulk formulae to be revisited in these environments. The surface fluxes have a net cooling effect on the gulf water on an annual mean (-79 W m-2), balanced by a strong exchange flux between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eilat.
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We propose a new method that should facilitate the use of weather radars to study wildfires. It is important to be able to identify the particles emitted by wildfires on radar, but it is difficult because there are many other echoes on radar like clear air, the ground, sea clutter, and precipitation. We came up with a two-step process to classify these echoes. Our method is accurate and can be used by fire departments in emergencies or by scientists for research.
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Secondary dryland salinity is a global land degradation issue. Our understanding of causal processes is adapted from wet and hydrologically connected landscapes and concludes that low end-of-catchment runoff indicates land clearing alters water balance in favour of increased infiltration and rising groundwater that bring salts to the surface causing salinity. This study shows surface flows play an important role in causing valley floor recharge and dryland salinity in low-gradient landscapes.
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The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-48, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-48, 2019
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Understanding the relationship between weather and snowmelt is increasingly important as snowpacks undergo reductions due to climate change. Impacts of weather patterns on snowmelt in Australia's Snowy Mountains were identified through the use of weather pattern data and in-situ energy measurements. We found that maximum snowmelt occurs prior to the passage of cold fronts, teleconnections have an impact on snowmelt, and energy available for snowmelt has decreased slightly in the last 39 years.
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Benjamin Walter, Hendrik Huwald, Josué Gehring, Yves Bühler, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 14, 1779–1794, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1779-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1779-2020, 2020
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We applied a horizontally mounted low-cost precipitation radar to measure velocities, frequency of occurrence, travel distances and turbulence characteristics of blowing snow off a mountain ridge. Our analysis provides a first insight into the potential of radar measurements for determining blowing snow characteristics, improves our understanding of mountain ridge blowing snow events and serves as a valuable data basis for validating coupled numerical weather and snowpack simulations.
Charles Amory and Christoph Kittel
The Cryosphere, 13, 3405–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3405-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3405-2019, 2019
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Snow mass fluxes and vertical profiles of relative humidity are used to document concurrent occurrences of drifting snow and near-surface air saturation at a site dominated by katabatic winds in East Antarctica. Despite a high prevalence of drifting snow conditions, we demonstrate that saturation is reached only in the most extreme wind and transport conditions and discuss implications for the understanding of surface mass and atmospheric moisture budgets of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Varun Sharma, Louise Braud, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 13, 3239–3260, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3239-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3239-2019, 2019
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Snow surfaces, under the action of wind, form beautiful shapes such as waves and dunes. This study is the first ever study to simulate these shapes using a state-of-the-art numerical modelling tool. While these beautiful and ephemeral shapes on snow surfaces are fascinating from a purely aesthetic point of view, they are also critical in regulating the transfer of heat and mass between the atmosphere and snowpacks, thus being of huge importance to the Earth system.
Yvan Orsolini, Martin Wegmann, Emanuel Dutra, Boqi Liu, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Kun Yang, Patricia de Rosnay, Congwen Zhu, Wenli Wang, Retish Senan, and Gabriele Arduini
The Cryosphere, 13, 2221–2239, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2221-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2221-2019, 2019
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The Tibetan Plateau region exerts a considerable influence on regional climate, yet the snowpack over that region is poorly represented in both climate and forecast models due a large precipitation and snowfall bias. We evaluate the snowpack in state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalyses against in situ observations and satellite remote sensing products. Improved snow initialisation through better use of snow observations in reanalyses may improve medium-range to seasonal weather forecasts.
Dušan Materić, Elke Ludewig, Kangming Xu, Thomas Röckmann, and Rupert Holzinger
The Cryosphere, 13, 297–307, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-297-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-297-2019, 2019
Niels Souverijns, Alexandra Gossart, Stef Lhermitte, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Jacopo Grazioli, Alexis Berne, Claudio Duran-Alarcon, Brice Boudevillain, Christophe Genthon, Claudio Scarchilli, and Nicole P. M. van Lipzig
The Cryosphere, 12, 3775–3789, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018, 2018
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Snowfall observations over Antarctica are scarce and currently limited to information from the CloudSat satellite. Here, a first evaluation of the CloudSat snowfall record is performed using observations of ground-based precipitation radars. Results indicate an accurate representation of the snowfall climatology over Antarctica, despite the low overpass frequency of the satellite, outperforming state-of-the-art model estimates. Individual snowfall events are however not well represented.
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Short summary
This study measured energy available for snowmelt during the 2016 and 2017 snow seasons in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia, and identified common traits for days with similar weather characteristics. The analysis showed that energy available for snowmelt was highest in the days before cold fronts passed through the region due to higher air temperatures. Regardless of differences in daily weather characteristics, solar radiation contributed the highest amount of energy to snowpack melt.
This study measured energy available for snowmelt during the 2016 and 2017 snow seasons in...
