The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them
When wind blows over dry snow, the snow surface self-organizes into bedforms such as dunes, ripples, snow waves, and sastrugi. These bedforms govern the interaction between wind, heat, and the snowpack, but thus far they have attracted few scientific studies. We present the first time-lapse document...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f5 2023-05-15T18:32:27+02:00 The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker 2019-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 https://doaj.org/article/87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f5 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1267/2019/tc-13-1267-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f5 The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 1267-1281 (2019) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 2022-12-31T00:11:02Z When wind blows over dry snow, the snow surface self-organizes into bedforms such as dunes, ripples, snow waves, and sastrugi. These bedforms govern the interaction between wind, heat, and the snowpack, but thus far they have attracted few scientific studies. We present the first time-lapse documentation of snow bedform movement and evolution, as part of a series of detailed observations of snow bedform movement in the Colorado Front Range. We show examples of the movement of snow ripples, snow waves, barchan dunes, snow steps, and sastrugi. We also introduce a previously undocumented bedform: the stealth dune. These observations show that (1) snow dunes accelerate minute-by-minute in response to gusts, (2) sastrugi and snow steps present steep edges to the wind and migrate downwind as those edges erode, (3) snow waves and dunes deposit layers of cohesive snow in their wake, and (4) bedforms evolve along complex cyclic trajectories. These observations provide the basis for new conceptual models of bedform evolution, based on the relative fluxes of snowfall, aeolian transport, erosion, and snow sintering across and into the surface. We find that many snow bedforms are generated by complex interactions between these processes. The prototypical example is the snow wave, in which deposition, sintering, and erosion occur in transverse stripes across the snowscape. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Sastrugi ENVELOPE(163.683,163.683,-74.617,-74.617) The Cryosphere 13 4 1267 1281 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
When wind blows over dry snow, the snow surface self-organizes into bedforms such as dunes, ripples, snow waves, and sastrugi. These bedforms govern the interaction between wind, heat, and the snowpack, but thus far they have attracted few scientific studies. We present the first time-lapse documentation of snow bedform movement and evolution, as part of a series of detailed observations of snow bedform movement in the Colorado Front Range. We show examples of the movement of snow ripples, snow waves, barchan dunes, snow steps, and sastrugi. We also introduce a previously undocumented bedform: the stealth dune. These observations show that (1) snow dunes accelerate minute-by-minute in response to gusts, (2) sastrugi and snow steps present steep edges to the wind and migrate downwind as those edges erode, (3) snow waves and dunes deposit layers of cohesive snow in their wake, and (4) bedforms evolve along complex cyclic trajectories. These observations provide the basis for new conceptual models of bedform evolution, based on the relative fluxes of snowfall, aeolian transport, erosion, and snow sintering across and into the surface. We find that many snow bedforms are generated by complex interactions between these processes. The prototypical example is the snow wave, in which deposition, sintering, and erosion occur in transverse stripes across the snowscape. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker |
author_facet |
K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker |
author_sort |
K. Kochanski |
title |
The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
title_short |
The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
title_full |
The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
title_fullStr |
The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
title_full_unstemmed |
The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them |
title_sort |
evolution of snow bedforms in the colorado front range and the processes that shape them |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 https://doaj.org/article/87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f5 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(163.683,163.683,-74.617,-74.617) |
geographic |
Sastrugi |
geographic_facet |
Sastrugi |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 1267-1281 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1267/2019/tc-13-1267-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1267-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1267 |
op_container_end_page |
1281 |
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1766216573426597888 |