Determination of snowmaking efficiency on a ski slope from observations and modelling of snowmaking events and seasonal snow accumulation

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Spandre, Pierre, François, Hugues, Thibert, Emmanuel, Morin, Samuel, George-Marcelpoil, Emmanuelle
• Other Authors: Développement des territoires montagnards (UR DTGR), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), Erosion torrentielle neige et avalanches (UR ETGR (ETNA)), Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Region Rhones-Alpes through ARC Environment, "Eau, Neige et Glace" foundation, French National Research Agency (ANR) : ANR10LABX56, SO/SOERE GLACIOCLIM, IGE, IRSTEA, CNRM/CEN
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: efficiency; ACCUMULATION DE NEIGE; EFFICACITE; NEIGE DE CULTURE; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01739566; https://hal.science/hal-01739566/document; https://hal.science/hal-01739566/file/gr2017-pub00054946.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-891-2017

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]DTAM [Axe_IRSTEA]DTAM-QT2-ADAPTATION [TR2_IRSTEA]RIVAGE International audience The production of Machine Made (MM) snow isnow generalized in ski resorts and represents the most common method of adaptation for mitigating the impact of a lack of snow on skiing. Most investigations of correlations between snow conditions and the ski industry’s economy focuson the production of MM snow though not one of thesehas taken into account the efficiency of the snowmaking process. The present study consists of observations of snow conditions (depth and mass) using a Differential GPS methodand snow density coring, following snowmaking events andseasonal snow accumulation in Les Deux Alpes ski resort(French Alps). A detailed physically based snowpack modelaccounting for grooming and snowmaking was used to compute the seasonal evolution of the snowpack and compared to the observations. Our results show that approximately 30% of the water mass can be recovered as MM snow within 10m from the center of aMMsnow pile after production and 50% within 20 m. Observations and simulations on the ski slope were relatively consistent with 60% (10 %) of the water mass used for snowmaking within the limits of the ski slope. Losses due to thermodynamic effects were estimated in the current case example to be less than 10% of the total water mass. These results suggest that even in ideal conditions for production a significant fraction of the water used for snowmaking can not be found as MM snow within the limits of the ski slope with most of the missing fraction of water. This is due to site dependent characteristics (e.g. meteorological conditions, topography).