Snow Drift Research Articles

Jurisdiction and police role in emergency situations in the Republic of Srpska

The police, as a state authority and law enforcement agency, is responsible primarily for the protection of law and order, as well as on countering crime (to detect and prove criminal offense and crime prevention). The role of the police in emergency situations could be seen in this sense as well. However, the role of the police in emergency situations is much broader than that. It includes not only the realization of the basic functions of the police, but also a variety of other activities, such as protection and rescue in emergency situations, identification of victims, enabling other services, etc. In addition, the role of the police and the character is also influenced by the situations because they can be caused not only by natural (earthquakes, floods, snow drifts), but also by human activity (fires and arson, terrorist acts, etc.), which further complicates police activity. So, on the one hand we have a legal framework that regulates the jurisdiction and powers of the police (e.g. The Law on Internal Affairs, Law on Police Officers, Law on protection and rescue in emergency situations), while on the other hand we have a real need for involvement of the police, which very often exceeds the legal framework of action. In this paper, we give an overview of the jurisdiction and role of the police in emergency situations in the Republic of Srpska, its organization, and the specifics of engaging in emergency situations caused by natural phenomena and human activities.

Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos

reviews Venice. Brentford and his friends are trapped far from home in more ways than one and realize that if they are ever to return home (a home that does not yet exist), they must not only figure out how to go forward in time and space, but they also must protect the future founders of New Venice from the forces that seek to destroy them. The novel brilliantly merges historical and literary fiction in 1895 Paris with futuristic science and a dash of magic to top it off. The chapters alternate between the voices of the seven characters of the Most Serene Seven, and the story is told as a jigsaw puzzle of the experiences of these seven characters that fit together to make a complete picture. The plot is packed full of everything you could ever want in a good novel: suspense, action, murder, romance, intrigue, and more. It is over five hundred pages long, but it is a rapid-paced page-turner that ends far too soon. The story stands alone from its predecessor and serves as an enjoyable read, even without the helpful background of Aurorama. The language of New Venice and the mystical and scientific vocabulary can temporarily leave the reader feeling as if there should be a Luminous Chaos dictionary, but Valtat quickly comes to the rescue to illuminate the missing pieces of information that are necessary. As the novel’s wizard says, “And that’s the trouble with magic, it always sounds like hogwash when you try to explain it.” Your patience will be greatly rewarded with an imaginary world that seems almost real enough to travel to, if only one could travel that far back in time and space. Haley Mowdy University of Oklahoma Juan Pablo Villalobos. Quesadillas. Rosalind Harvey, tr. New York. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2014. isbn 9780374533953 Continuing the exploration of Mexico that began in Down the Rabbit Hole, Quesadillas searches for the identity of a place that is anything but normal. Juan Pablo Villalobos invokes the weird and the random as he questions what it means to be Mexican, to be poor, and to be poor in Mexico. His second novel can be read as a picaresque adventure, imparting social criticism through a poor boy’s travels in a decaying country. It can be read as a parody of the magical realism that supposedly characterizes Latin America, condemning this essentialist attitude with absurd magic and realism that is almost too real. Finally, it can be read as a Greek tragedy, with classically 64 worldliteraturetoday.org Juhan Liiv Snow Drifts, I Sing: Selected Poems Jüri Talvet, ed. & tr. / H. L. Hix, tr. Guernica Editions Jüri Talvet and H. L. Hix have brought twentyfirst -century readers a remarkable gift with their selection and bilingual presentation of Estonian poet Juhan Liiv’s work. As well known in Estonia as Walt Whitman is known in the United States, Liiv (1864–1913) deserves to be widely read and to take his rightful place among the world’s great poets. Foumiko Kometani Wasabi for Breakfast Mary Goebel Noguchi, tr. Dalkey Archive Press This book is comprised of two novellas, Family Business and 1,001 Fires Raging. Both feature female Japanese American protagonists and their struggles to maintain cultural ties to both their motherland and their current home. Kometani draws on her own experience as a Japanese American to open a dialogue about the difficulty in uniting two vastly different cultures. Nota Bene named characters in a family that seems destined to collapse. The novel’s protagonist, Orestes (a.k.a. Oreo), reluctantly shares a dilapidated house—and often-scarce quesadillas—with his oversized family . His father swears at the television about Mexico’s corrupt politicians while his brother Aristotle attempts to monopolize their mother’s quesadillas . After a bout of political violence characteristic of 1980s Mexico , two of Oreo’s siblings, the “fake twins” Castor and Pollux, go missing. At this point, the story diverts into full-scale ridiculousness. A Polish family moves in next door, and Oreo learns from their son the language of class hierarchy. Aristotle suggests to Oreo that the fake twins were captured by aliens, and the brothers go in...

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P by Adelle Waldman

Juhan Liiv Snow Drifts, I Sing: Selected Poems Jüri Talvet, ed. & tr. / H. L. Hix, tr. Guernica Editions Jüri Talvet and H. L. Hix have brought twentyfirst -century readers a remarkable gift with their selection and bilingual presentation of Estonian poet Juhan Liiv’s work. As well known in Estonia as Walt Whitman is known in the United States, Liiv (1864–1913) deserves to be widely read and to take his rightful place among the world’s great poets. Foumiko Kometani Wasabi for Breakfast Mary Goebel Noguchi, tr. Dalkey Archive Press This book is comprised of two novellas, Family Business and 1,001 Fires Raging. Both feature female Japanese American protagonists and their struggles to maintain cultural ties to both their motherland and their current home. Kometani draws on her own experience as a Japanese American to open a dialogue about the difficulty in uniting two vastly different cultures. Nota Bene named characters in a family that seems destined to collapse. The novel’s protagonist, Orestes (a.k.a. Oreo), reluctantly shares a dilapidated house—and often-scarce quesadillas—with his oversized family . His father swears at the television about Mexico’s corrupt politicians while his brother Aristotle attempts to monopolize their mother’s quesadillas . After a bout of political violence characteristic of 1980s Mexico , two of Oreo’s siblings, the “fake twins” Castor and Pollux, go missing. At this point, the story diverts into full-scale ridiculousness. A Polish family moves in next door, and Oreo learns from their son the language of class hierarchy. Aristotle suggests to Oreo that the fake twins were captured by aliens, and the brothers go in search of their abductors only to have a falling-out, leaving Oreo to wander the countryside with a miraculous device that can fix any machine with the push of a button. After his return home, he is pressed into assisting his neighbor with the delicate work of bovine artificial insemination. The chaos climaxes with the destruction of Oreo’s home and his father’s madcap effort to construct a new one, at which point the novel’s previous elements emerge en masse and drag the story to its satisfyingly bizarre conclusion. Quesadillas is fast-paced and colloquial ; it is troubling and funny all at once. The story’s balance of the disturbing and the amusing results in equal parts from its sardonic social commentary and from its young narrator , Orestes. Oreo is cynical, seeing family and affection in terms of quesadillas. He is also endearing, constantly hoping for normality in a place that is inherently abnormal. Rosalind Harvey’s English translation —while noticeably more British than American—maintains the verve of the original and offers readers a chance to realign their perceptions of Mexico and Mexicans. Quesadillas is an unusual and important novel that deserves to be read. Arthur Dixon University of Oklahoma Adelle Waldman. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. New York. Henry Holt / Macmillan. 2013. isbn 9780805097450 “But did any of it make him an asshole ?” That is the question. Notably, it is the question posed by protagonist Nate Piven to Nate Piven. I suspect it is also the question the reader is supposed to ask after finishing the book. See, Nate finds himself in a bit of a quandary: when it comes to sex, how really is a man supposed to act? It is a timely question for the people of Nate’s generation, who are “product[s] of a postfeminist, 1980s childhood and politically correct, 1990s college education.” When you’ve been taught that neither sex nor pregnancy means you need to ask a girl to marry you—when, in fact, you know March–April 2014 • 65 reviews this response would be patronizing— what should you do when you have consensual sex with a girl and she gets pregnant? This is the first situation we find Nate in, as he happens upon Juliet on a crowded New York street. Nate stuck around and supported Juliet through the abortion. But he wasn’t in love with her, so he stopped calling. Does this, as Juliet claims, make Nate an asshole? Since Adelle Waldman places this question up front, it accompanies Nate throughout the...

Quantifying spatial distribution of snow depth errors from LiDAR using Random Forest

There is increasing need to characterize the distribution of snow in complex terrain using remote sensing approaches, especially in isolated mountainous regions that are often water-limited, the principal source of terrestrial freshwater, and sensitive to climatic shifts and variations. We apply intensive topographic surveys, multi-temporal LiDAR, and Random Forest modeling to quantify snow volume and characterize associated errors across seven land cover types in a semi-arid mountainous catchment at a 1 and 4m spatial resolution. The LiDAR-based estimates of both snow-off surface topology and snow depths were validated against ground-based measurements across the catchment. LiDAR-derived snow depths estimates were most accurate in areas of low lying vegetation such as meadow and shrub vegetation (RMSE=0.14m) as compared to areas consisting of tree cover (RMSE=0.20–0.35m). The highest errors were found along the edge of conifer forests (RMSE=0.35m), however a second conifer transect outside the catchment had much lower errors (RMSE=0.21m). This difference is attributed to the wind exposure of the first site that led to highly variable snow depths at short spatial distances. The Random Forest modeled errors deviated from the field measured errors with a RMSE of 0.09–0.34m across the different cover types. The modeling was used to calculate a theoretical lower and upper bound of catchment snow volume error of 21–30%. Results show that snow drifts, which are important for maintaining spring and summer stream flows and establishing and sustaining water-limited plant species, contained 30±5–6% of the snow volume while only occupying 10% of the catchment area similar to findings by prior physically-based modeling approaches. This study demonstrates the potential utility of combining multi-temporal LiDAR with Random Forest modeling to quantify the distribution of snow depth with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

The vulnerability of the European Road 85 to blizzard, on the road section between Urziceni and Buzău

The blizzard phenomenon is the climate risk that has the greatest impact on the road-ways in the South-Eastern part of Romania. The E85 section between Urziceni and Buzau has a great vulnerability to blizzard. Its vulnerability was proved during the 26 of January – the 14 of February 2012, when the road-way was blocked for 10 days. In order to establish the vulnerability level for E85 road, the section between Urziceni and Buzau, the Roads Vulnerability to Blizzard Index (RVBI) has been calculated and spatially modelled by using the GIS techniques. This index integrates several factors, such as: road sections orientation, buildings density in the vicinity of the road, width of the villages that are crossed by E85, the snow drift potential, within built-up areaʼs orientation to E85, the negative relief forms along the road section. The calculation of the RVBI points out that 74% of total length of the road present high and very high vulnerability during blizzard phenomenon. The road sections with high and very high vulnerability need protective measures, such as: forest belts plantation, using bigger snow fences, increasing the snow fences density and achieving more equipment for snow moving off by the local authorities.

Evolución del manto nival en el Alto Ártico, Nordenskiöld Land (Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

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The Impact of Snow Accumulation on the Active Layer Thermal Regime in High Arctic Soils

This study quantifies the impacts of snow augmentation and the timing of snow accumulation on the soil thermal regime at the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO), in the Canadian High Arctic. Monthly soil temperatures between December and March 2006–2007 were 7.7 to 9.9°C warmer beneath a deep drift (54 cm) relative to soils beneath ambient (unamended or background) snow conditions (10 cm). Although air temperatures and total snow accumulation at the sites in 2007–2008 were very similar to the previous winter, the mean monthly soil temperatures beneath two snow drifts (50 and 88 cm) were only 0.2 to 5.7°C warmer for January through March than soils subject to ambient snow depths (18 and 35 cm). Results demonstrate that the timing of snow accumulation was more important than snow depth in determining winter soil temperatures. In 2006–2007, snow cover insulated soils by early November, while in 2007–2008 there was insufficient snow cover to insulate soils until late January 2008. In 2006–2007, winter (December–March) soil temperatures beneath the deepest snow (54 cm) exceeded winter air temperatures by 6°C, and mean annual air temperatures by 1°C, while in 2007–2008 winter soil temperatures beneath 88 cm of snow were only 0.3°C warmer than air, and mean annual temperatures were 2.4°C cooler than air. There was a weak but significant inverse correlation between the maximum active layer thickness and the snow depth; however, this correlation was more pronounced for snow depths below approximately 30 cm. This study demonstrates that an understanding of the timing of projected increases in winter precipitation is necessary to predict changes in the active layer's thermal, hydrological, and biogeochemical response to regional climate change.

Wind effects on snow cover in Pascua-Lama, Dry Andes of Chile

We present the first application of a distributed snow model (SnowModel) in the instrumented site of Pascua-Lama in the Dry Andes (2600–5630m above sea level, 29°S). A model experiment was performed to assess the effect of wind on the snow cover patterns. A particular objective was to evaluate the role of blowing snow on the glacier formation. The model was run using the data from 11 weather stations over a complete snow season. First, a cross-validation of the meteorological variables interpolation model (MicroMet submodel) was performed to evaluate the performance of the simulated meteorological forcing. Secondly, two SnowModel simulations were set up: one without and the other with the wind transport submodel (SnowTran-3D). Results from both simulations were compared with in situ snow depth measurements and remotely sensed snow cover data. The inclusion of SnowTran-3D does not change the fact that the model is unable to capture the small-scale snow depth spatial variability (as captured by in situ snow depth sensors). However, remote sensing data (MODIS daily snow product) indicate that at broader scales the wind module produced an improved representation of the snow distribution near the glaciers (2-D correlation coefficient increased from R=0.04 to R=0.27). The model outputs show that a key process is the sublimation of blowing snow, which amounts to 18% of the total ablation over the whole study area, with a high spatial variability. The effect of snow drift is more visible on the glaciers, where wind-transported snow accumulates preferentially. Net deposition occurred for 43% of the glacier grid points, whereas it is only 23% of non-glacier grid points located above the minimum glacier altitude (4475m).

Transport of Snow by the Wind: A Comparison Between Observations in Adélie Land, Antarctica, and Simulations Made with the Regional Climate Model MAR

For the first time a simulation of blowing snow events was validated in detail using one-month long observations (January 2010) made in Adelie Land, Antarctica. A regional climate model featuring a coupled atmosphere/blowing snow/snowpack model is forced laterally by meteorological re-analyses. The vertical grid spacing was 2 m from 2 to 20 m above the surface and the horizontal grid spacing was 5 km. The simulation was validated by comparing the occurrence of blowing snow events and other meteorological parameters at two automatic weather stations. The Nash test allowed us to compute efficiencies of the simulation. The regional climate model simulated the observed wind speed with a positive efficiency (0.69). Wind speeds higher than 12 m s−1 were underestimated. Positive efficiency of the simulated wind speed was a prerequisite for validating the blowing snow model. Temperatures were simulated with a slightly negative efficiency (−0.16) due to overestimation of the amplitude of the diurnal cycle during one week, probably because the cloud cover was underestimated at that location during the period concerned. Snowfall events were correctly simulated by our model, as confirmed by field reports. Because observations suggested that our instrument (an acoustic sounder) tends to overestimate the blowing snow flux, data were not sufficiently accurate to allow the complete validation of snow drift values. However, the simulation of blowing snow occurrence was in good agreement with the observations made during the first 20 days of January 2010, despite the fact that the blowing snow flux may be underestimated by the regional climate model during pure blowing snow events. We found that blowing snow occurs in Adelie Land only when the 30-min wind speed value at 2 m a.g.l. is >10 m s−1. The validation for the last 10 days of January 2010 was less satisfactory because of complications introduced by surface melting and refreezing.

Direct Two–Phase Numerical Simulation of Snowdrift Remediation using Three–Dimensional Deflection Fins

We present a versatile three – dimensional two – phase model for simulating snow drift relocation around buildings utilizing deflection fins of various shapes and sizes. The first phase involves numerically obtaining the air velocity profile around the building and fin using a velocity – pressure Navier – Stokes algorithm, while the second phase involves direct classical simulation of snowfall with particle – particle, particle – surface and one – way particle – gusting wind interactions introduced to control accumulation, erosion, clumping and drifting. Because the simulation technique is direct, it is potentially useful for storms and surfaces with widely varying conditions. We are also able to consider the effect of crosswinds.

Occurrence of blowing snow events at an alpine site over a 10-year period: Observations and modelling

Blowing snow events control the evolution of the snow pack in mountainous areas and cause inhomogeneous snow distribution. The goal of this study is to identify the main features of blowing snow events at an alpine site and assess the ability of the detailed snowpack model Crocus to reproduce the occurrence of these events in a 1D configuration. We created a database of blowing snow events observed over 10years at our experimental site. Occurrences of blowing snow events were divided into cases with and without concurrent falling snow. Overall, snow transport is observed during 10.5% of the time in winter and occurs with concurrent falling snow 37.3% of the time. Wind speed and snow age control the frequency of occurrence. Model results illustrate the necessity of taking the wind-dependence of falling snow grain characteristics into account to simulate periods of snow transport and mass fluxes satisfactorily during those periods. The high rate of false alarms produced by the model is investigated in detail for winter 2010/2011 using measurements from snow particle counters.

Development of an automatic blowing-snow station

Abstract Blowing snow is a significant component of the mass and energy balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, and is an important factor when predicting the likely effects of global climate change. Nishimura and Nemoto (2005) carried out blowing snow observations at Mizuho Station, Antarctica in 2000 using Snow Particle Counters (SPCs) able to sense particle diameter as well as particle number. However, the SPC requires a large power supply and data are stored on computer. Deployment of an SPC is therefore not always practical for unmanned observations, particularly under the severe conditions in Antarctica. In this study, we developed a simpler device – the automatic blowing-snow station (ABS) – that measures the attenuation of light intensity, which is strongly influenced by the blowing snow flux. A small wind turbine and a cold-proof battery are used as the power source. We tested the performance of the ABS system in a cold wind-tunnel, in comparison with the SPC. We also undertook field testing of the ABS during the winter of 2009–2010 at Ishikari, Japan, which showed that the system performs well.

Wind tunnel experiments on natural snow drift

Previous wind tunnel experiments on snow drift usually used artificial snow as a substitute of natural snow, which can not fully reflect the motion characteristics of snow drift in natural environments. In this paper we conducted a series of experiments in wind tunnel to investigate the motion of natural snow (fresh snow and old snow), which was collected out-door without destroying the surface structure. The results indicated that the threshold velocity of fresh snow is less than that of old snow, and that the mass flux rates of the two kinds of snow exponentially decrease with height whereas the snow transport rate increases exponentially with wind velocity. Based on the PIV measuring of the velocities of snow particles over two kinds of terrains (flat ground and roadbed), we found that the particle velocity obeys a Gaussian distribution for flat ground, top surface and leeward slope of the roadbed. However, for the windward slope of roadbed the particle velocity distribution displays poor correlation with a Gaussian function due to the acceleration of snow particles when saltating across the slop. Statistical analysis showed that impacting and liftoff velocities of snow particles also obey Gaussian distributions.

Application of Micro-continuum Approach in the Estimation of Snow Drift Density, Velocity and Mass Transport in Hilly Bound Cold Regions

We estimate snow velocity and snow drift density on hilly terrain under the assumption that the drifting snow mass can be represented using a micro-continuum approach (i.e. using a nonclassical mechanics approach assuming a class of fluids for which basic equations of mass, momentum and energy have been derived). In our model, the theory of coupled stress fluids proposed by Stokes [1] has been employed for the computation of flow parameters. Analyses of bulk drift velocity, drift density, drift transport and mass transport of snow particles have been carried out and computations made, considering various parametric effects. Results are compared with those of classical mechanics (logarithmic wind profile). The results indicate that particle size affects the flow characteristics significantly. Keywords—Snow velocity, Snow drift density, Mass transport of snow particles, Snow Avalanche.

Effects of shelterbelts on snow distribution and sublimation

On the Canadian Prairies and the northern US Great Plains, snow is an important component of annual precipitation, sometimes constituting over 40% of the total, although there is much annual and regional variability. Much of this snow is transported by wind, causing substantial sublimation losses, which are reduced by obstacles and topographic features on the landscape that reduce snow transport and trap snow. Agroforestry configurations trap snow and reduce the amount and distance of snow movement and, because of this, reduce the amount of moisture lost to sublimation. The planning of agroforestry measures should therefore take into account their effects on snow hydrology. In this study, the effects of shelterbelts on snow quantity and distribution are shown over multiple years, including a number of locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Results show that snow transport reached equilibrium in 400 m or less (i.e., that sublimation rates were at their maximum beyond 400 m leeward of a shelterbelt). Also, in a paired landscape inventory, the landscape with shelterbelts had 29% more snow water equivalent (SWE) than the unsheltered landscape. Site-specific meteorological data was used in the Prairie Blowing Snow Model, now a component of the Cold Regions Hydrological Model, to calculate the effects of agroforestry configurations on snow water conservation. Modeled snow distribution agreed well with measured snow at Conquest, Saskatchewan, in the winter of 2009/2010. Using actual weather data for the same location for the period 1996–2011, the model calculated the annual sublimation from 200 m wide fields protected by shelterbelts to be up to 12.5 mm less than similar unsheltered fields.

Satellite remote sensing of blowing snow properties over Antarctica

[1] A new technique for the detection of blowing snow events using satellite lidar data is applied to Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) observations to obtain the spatial and temporal frequency, layer height, and optical depth of blowing snow events over Antarctica for 2007 through 2009. In addition, spatially and temporally collocated multichannel Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are utilized for the detection of two blowing snow events in sunlight. Blowing snow frequency as high as 70% is found to occur in some regions of Antarctica during winter. The spatial distribution of blowing snow closely follows the katabatic wind pattern with the exception of an area in East Antarctica that encompasses the megadune region, where the most persistent and largest area of blowing snow occurs. Layer thickness ranges from the minimum detectable (30 m) to about 1000 m with an average depth of 120 m for all blowing snow events. The layer optical depth estimated from the lidar data ranged from 0.05 to 1.0 with an average of 0.20. A very large, organized blowing snow “storm” is tracked over 3 days and is estimated to transport a mass of 6.3 × 103 kg m−1 d−1 which is comparable to surface-based measurements of mass transport during blowing snow events. Results from the application of the retrieval technique to ICESat data are also presented with a demonstration of the large multiple scattering-induced elevation error that blowing snow layers can cause.

Drifting snow threshold measurements near McMurdo station, Antarctica: A sensor comparison study

Abstract We present the results of an Antarctic spring field study of snow drift threshold measurements made using two custom drift sensors and a commercial parts-counting device. All three sensor types worked well at detecting drifting snow events, but the sensors recorded different magnitudes (particle count per unit time) of drift. Each sensor has a unique detection threshold for particle size, and responded differently to identical wind and snow conditions, although the particle counts from the different sensors are linearly related at low wind speeds. The drift threshold is defined here as the minimum friction velocity at which drifting snow was observed during more than 10% of measurements at that wind speed. The results of this multi-sensor study demonstrate that the drift threshold is lower (friction velocity of 0.2 m/s) for very small particles that are likely transported in suspension than for coarse-grained saltating particles (0.25 m/s). These friction velocities correspond to 10-meter wind speeds of 5.6 and 7.2 m/s respectively for the conditions during this experiment. The commercially available parts counter is recommended as a low-cost alternative to custom-built drift sensors for use in future field studies of drifting and blowing snow.

Blowing Snow on Arctic Sea Ice: Results from an Improved Sea Ice–Snow–Blowing Snow Coupled System

Abstract A one-dimensional (1D) version of a blowing snow model, called PIEKTUK-D, has been incorporated into a snow–sea ice coupled system. Blowing snow results in sublimation of approximately 12 mm of snow water equivalent (SWE), which is equal to approximately 6% of the annual precipitation over 324 days from 1997 to 1998. This effect leads to an average decrease of 9 cm in snow depth for an 11-month simulation of the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) dataset (from 31 October 1997 to 1 October 1998). Inclusion of blowing snow has a significant impact on snow evolution between February and June, during which it is responsible for a decrease in snow depth error by about 30%. Between November and January, however, other factors such as regional surface topography or horizontal wind transport may have had a greater influence on the evolution of the snowpack and sea ice. During these few months the new system does not perform as well, with a snow depth percentage error of 39%—much larger than the 12% error found between February and June. The results also indicate a slight increase of 4 cm on average for ice thickness, and a decrease of 0.4 K for the temperature at the snow–ice interface. One of the main effects of blowing snow is to shorten the duration of snow cover above sea ice by approximately 4 days and to lead to earlier ice melt by approximately 6 days. Blowing snow also has a very small impact on internal characteristics of the snowpack, such as grain size and density, leading to a weaker snowpack.

Classification and Comparison of Snow Fences for the Protection of Transport Infrastructures

Blowing snow or sand transport generates serious problems, such as transport infrastructures buried under snow or sand, in many parts of the world. Some of the most important problems that snow and sand storms can cause include drivers trapped on the roads, indefinite traffic delays, accidents, and isolated populations. Snow fences provide a solution to this problem because they hold back the snow, preventing displacement and wind-induced drifting. In this way, they reduce these problems on transport infrastructures and improve visibility, providing safer driving conditions. In this review, a classification is proposed of snow fences into three basic types: earth, structural, and living snow fences. Among the structural fences, nonporous and porous snow fences are distinguished. The different possibilities in terms of the placement of snow fences are also analyzed. Finally, different types of snow fences have been compared under design, construction, and operation criteria. This review can provide initial guidelines for technicians to choose the best snow fence for blizzard conditions.

A case study of blowing snow cooling effects on anticyclogenesis and cyclolysis

[1] This paper focuses on blowing snow and its effect, through thermodynamic forcing, on anticyclogenesis and cyclolysis. A triple-moment blowing snow model (PIEKTUK-T) is coupled to an atmospheric model (MC2), and this system is used to simulate an anticyclogenesis event. For comparison, an uncoupled version of MC2 is used to model the same event. The coupled model (CPL) showed colder low-level temperatures in regions where blowing snow occurred. This cooling contributes to a rise in sea level pressure relative to the uncoupled simulation. A potential vorticity (PV) diagnostic is then applied to quantify how this microphysical cooling affects the geopotential height and balanced wind fields. Surface potential temperature differences between the coupled and uncoupled runs were used as lower boundary conditions for the inversion. The results showed that blowing snow has only a small cooling effect over the anticyclogenesis region in CPL and moderate cooling over Baffin Island, where a decaying cyclone was moving northward. The cooling induces positive geopotential height and anticyclonic flow perturbations extending up to 500 mbar over the cyclone region. The averaged inverted geopotential height anomaly at 1000 mbar level over the cooling region is up to 4.6 dam in 72 h. Surface cooling is demonstrated to play a role in the cyclolysis. The CPL run allows the relative humidity with respect to ice in the blowing snow module to remain supersaturated and includes the heat release from the supersaturated water vapor deposition. Another experiment was carried out, in which supersaturated vapor was not allowed in the blowing snow module. The sensitivity experiment results indicated that blowing snow cooling effects over Baffin Island will be much reduced.