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research article

Attenuation of wind-induced pressure perturbations in alpine snow

Drake, Stephen A.
•
Huwald, Hendrik  
•
Parlange, Marc B.
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2016
Journal of Glaciology

Windpumping has been identified as a process that could potentially enhance sublimation of surface snow at high forcing frequency and spawn air movement deeper in firn at lower frequencies. We performed an experiment to examine the relationship between high-frequency wind and pressure measurements within the top meter of an alpine snowpack and compared experimental results with two theoretical predictions. We find that both theoretical predictions underestimate high-frequency perturbation pressure attenuation with depth in the near-surface snowpack and the discrepancy between theory and measurement increases with perturbation pressure frequency. The impact of this result for near-surface snow is that potential enhanced sublimation will occur over a shallower snow depth than these two theories predict. Correspondingly, interstitial air mixing at depth in firn will be driven by lower frequencies than these two theories predict. While direct measurement of these energy-rich lower frequencies is beyond the scope of this paper, stationary pressure measurements validate the presence of a pressure field that could drive near-surface circulation.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1017/jog.2016.53
Web of Science ID

WOS:000383883000005

Author(s)
Drake, Stephen A.
Huwald, Hendrik  
Parlange, Marc B.
Selker, John S.
Nolin, Anne W.
Higgins, Chad W.
Date Issued

2016

Publisher

International Glaciological Society

Published in
Journal of Glaciology
Volume

62

Issue

234

Start page

674

End page

683

Subjects

snow ventilation

•

wind pumping

•

snow/ice surface processes

•

mountain meteorology

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CRYOS  
Available on Infoscience
September 8, 2016
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/129202
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