On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack
Arctic landscapes are covered in snow for at least 6 months of the year. The energy balance of the snow cover plays a key role in these environments, influencing the surface albedo, the thermal regime of the permafrost, and other factors. Our goal is to quantify all major heat fluxes above, within,...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc96981 2023-05-15T13:11:21+02:00 On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack Lackner, Georg Domine, Florent Nadeau, Daniel F. Parent, Annie-Claude Anctil, François Lafaysse, Matthieu Dumont, Marie 2022-01-13 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/127/2022/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/127/2022/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2022 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 2022-01-17T17:22:17Z Arctic landscapes are covered in snow for at least 6 months of the year. The energy balance of the snow cover plays a key role in these environments, influencing the surface albedo, the thermal regime of the permafrost, and other factors. Our goal is to quantify all major heat fluxes above, within, and below a low-Arctic snowpack at a shrub tundra site on the east coast of Hudson Bay in eastern Canada. The study is based on observations from a flux tower that uses the eddy covariance approach and from profiles of temperature and thermal conductivity in the snow and soil. Additionally, we compared the observations with simulations produced using the Crocus snow model. We found that radiative losses due to negative longwave radiation are mostly counterbalanced by the sensible heat flux, whereas the latent heat flux is minimal. At the snow surface, the heat flux into the snow is similar in magnitude to the sensible heat flux. Because the snow cover stores very little heat, the majority of the upward heat flux in the snow is used to cool the soil. Overall, the model was able to reproduce the observed energy balance, but due to the effects of atmospheric stratification, it showed some deficiencies when simulating turbulent heat fluxes at an hourly timescale. Text albedo Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Tundra Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Canada Hudson Hudson Bay The Cryosphere 16 1 127 142 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Arctic landscapes are covered in snow for at least 6 months of the year. The energy balance of the snow cover plays a key role in these environments, influencing the surface albedo, the thermal regime of the permafrost, and other factors. Our goal is to quantify all major heat fluxes above, within, and below a low-Arctic snowpack at a shrub tundra site on the east coast of Hudson Bay in eastern Canada. The study is based on observations from a flux tower that uses the eddy covariance approach and from profiles of temperature and thermal conductivity in the snow and soil. Additionally, we compared the observations with simulations produced using the Crocus snow model. We found that radiative losses due to negative longwave radiation are mostly counterbalanced by the sensible heat flux, whereas the latent heat flux is minimal. At the snow surface, the heat flux into the snow is similar in magnitude to the sensible heat flux. Because the snow cover stores very little heat, the majority of the upward heat flux in the snow is used to cool the soil. Overall, the model was able to reproduce the observed energy balance, but due to the effects of atmospheric stratification, it showed some deficiencies when simulating turbulent heat fluxes at an hourly timescale. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lackner, Georg Domine, Florent Nadeau, Daniel F. Parent, Annie-Claude Anctil, François Lafaysse, Matthieu Dumont, Marie |
spellingShingle |
Lackner, Georg Domine, Florent Nadeau, Daniel F. Parent, Annie-Claude Anctil, François Lafaysse, Matthieu Dumont, Marie On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
author_facet |
Lackner, Georg Domine, Florent Nadeau, Daniel F. Parent, Annie-Claude Anctil, François Lafaysse, Matthieu Dumont, Marie |
author_sort |
Lackner, Georg |
title |
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
title_short |
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
title_full |
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
title_fullStr |
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the energy budget of a low-Arctic snowpack |
title_sort |
on the energy budget of a low-arctic snowpack |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/127/2022/ |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
genre |
albedo Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Tundra |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/127/2022/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-127-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
127 |
op_container_end_page |
142 |
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1766247069899554816 |