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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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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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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In cold regions, it is increasingly important to quantify the amount of water stored as snow at the end of winter. Current models are inconsistent in their estimates of snow sublimation due to atmospheric turbulence. Specific wind structures have been identified that amplify potential rates of surface and blowing snow sublimation during blowing snow storms. The recurrence of these motions has been modeled by a simple scaling argument that has its foundation in turbulent boundary layer theory.
Benjamin Walter, Hendrik Huwald, Josué Gehring, Yves Bühler, and Michael Lehning
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Charles Amory and Christoph Kittel
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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...
