The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin /
Despite being ubiquitous in the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) of Canada, the role of snow in its energy and water budgets are still open to much speculation. This thesis presents a multi-scale analysis of the contribution of blowing snow to the hydrometeorology of the MRB. A climatology of adverse win...
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McGill University
2001
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ftcanadathes:oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.36909 2023-05-15T15:03:41+02:00 The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / Dery, Stephen J. Yau, M. R. (Peter) (advisor) Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) 2001 application/pdf http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36909 en eng McGill University alephsysno: 001809570 proquestno: NQ70002 Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36909 All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Hydrology Physics Atmospheric Science Electronic Thesis or Dissertation 2001 ftcanadathes 2014-02-16T00:48:00Z Despite being ubiquitous in the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) of Canada, the role of snow in its energy and water budgets are still open to much speculation. This thesis presents a multi-scale analysis of the contribution of blowing snow to the hydrometeorology of the MRB. A climatology of adverse wintertime weather events is first presented and demonstrates that blowing snow events are rare within the forested sections of the MRB but become more frequent in the northern parts of the basin covered by Arctic tundra. It is these areas which experience the largest impacts of blowing snow transport and sublimation due to large-scale processes. To further assess the mesoscale and microscale effects of blowing snow to the northern regions of the MRB, the development of a bulk blowing snow model is then described. The single- and double-moment versions of the PIEKTUK blowing snow model are shown to produce equivalent results as a previous spectral version of the numerical model while operating about 100 times faster. The application of the double-moment PIEKTUK model (PIEKTUK-D) to a Canadian Arctic tundra site near the northern tip of the MRB reveals that blowing snow sublimation depletes ≈3 mm snow water equivalent (swe) from the snowpack over a period of 210 days during the winter of 1996/1997 at Trail Valley Creek, Northwest Territories. Various assumptions on the state of the background thermodynamic profiles and their evolution during blowing snow, however, can yield significantly higher (>300%) rates of sublimation over the same period. PIEKTUK-D is then coupled to the Mesoscale Compressible Community (MC2) model for an interactive simulation of a ground blizzard at Trail Valley Creek. This coupled mesoscale simulation reveals that moistening and cooling of near-surface air associated with blowing snow sublimation is observed but mitigated in part by advective and entrainment processes. Combined, blowing snow sublimation and mass divergence are then shown to rem Thesis Arctic Mackenzie river Northwest Territories Tundra Theses Canada/Thèses Canada (Library and Archives Canada) Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories Trail Valley Creek ENVELOPE(-133.415,-133.415,68.772,68.772) Valley Creek ENVELOPE(-138.324,-138.324,63.326,63.326) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Theses Canada/Thèses Canada (Library and Archives Canada) |
op_collection_id |
ftcanadathes |
language |
English |
topic |
Hydrology Physics Atmospheric Science |
spellingShingle |
Hydrology Physics Atmospheric Science Dery, Stephen J. The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
topic_facet |
Hydrology Physics Atmospheric Science |
description |
Despite being ubiquitous in the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) of Canada, the role of snow in its energy and water budgets are still open to much speculation. This thesis presents a multi-scale analysis of the contribution of blowing snow to the hydrometeorology of the MRB. A climatology of adverse wintertime weather events is first presented and demonstrates that blowing snow events are rare within the forested sections of the MRB but become more frequent in the northern parts of the basin covered by Arctic tundra. It is these areas which experience the largest impacts of blowing snow transport and sublimation due to large-scale processes. To further assess the mesoscale and microscale effects of blowing snow to the northern regions of the MRB, the development of a bulk blowing snow model is then described. The single- and double-moment versions of the PIEKTUK blowing snow model are shown to produce equivalent results as a previous spectral version of the numerical model while operating about 100 times faster. The application of the double-moment PIEKTUK model (PIEKTUK-D) to a Canadian Arctic tundra site near the northern tip of the MRB reveals that blowing snow sublimation depletes ≈3 mm snow water equivalent (swe) from the snowpack over a period of 210 days during the winter of 1996/1997 at Trail Valley Creek, Northwest Territories. Various assumptions on the state of the background thermodynamic profiles and their evolution during blowing snow, however, can yield significantly higher (>300%) rates of sublimation over the same period. PIEKTUK-D is then coupled to the Mesoscale Compressible Community (MC2) model for an interactive simulation of a ground blizzard at Trail Valley Creek. This coupled mesoscale simulation reveals that moistening and cooling of near-surface air associated with blowing snow sublimation is observed but mitigated in part by advective and entrainment processes. Combined, blowing snow sublimation and mass divergence are then shown to rem |
author2 |
Yau, M. R. (Peter) (advisor) |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Dery, Stephen J. |
author_facet |
Dery, Stephen J. |
author_sort |
Dery, Stephen J. |
title |
The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
title_short |
The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
title_full |
The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
title_fullStr |
The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the Mackenzie River Basin / |
title_sort |
role of blowing snow in the hydrometeorology of the mackenzie river basin / |
publisher |
McGill University |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36909 |
op_coverage |
Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-133.415,-133.415,68.772,68.772) ENVELOPE(-138.324,-138.324,63.326,63.326) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories Trail Valley Creek Valley Creek |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories Trail Valley Creek Valley Creek |
genre |
Arctic Mackenzie river Northwest Territories Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Mackenzie river Northwest Territories Tundra |
op_relation |
alephsysno: 001809570 proquestno: NQ70002 Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36909 |
op_rights |
All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
_version_ |
1766335541935079424 |