A distributed model of blowing snow over complex terrain

Physically-based models of blowing snow and windflow are used to develop a distributed model of blowing snow transport and sublimation over complex terrain. The model is applied to an arctic tundra basin. A reasonable agreement with results from snow surveys is obtained, provided sublimation processes are included; a simulation without sublimation produces much greater snow accumulations than were measured. The model is able to reproduce some observed features of redistributed snowcovers: distributions of snow mass, classified by vegetation type and landform, can be approximated by lognormal distributions, and standard deviations of snow mass along transects follow a power law with transect length up to a cut-off. The representation used for the downwind development of blowing snow with changes in windspeed and surface characteristics is found to have a large moderating influence on snow redistribution.