Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements
Blowing snow is a frequent and ubiquitous phenomenon over most over Antarctica. The transport and sublimation of blowing snow are important for the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and the latter is a major contributor to the hydrological cycle in high latitude regions. While much is known ab...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20190001620 2023-05-15T13:47:44+02:00 Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements Kayetha, Vinay K. Yang, Yuekui Nicolas, Julien P. Palm, Stephen P. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available December 10, 2018 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190001620 unknown Document ID: 20190001620 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190001620 Copyright, Use by or on behalf of the U.S. Government permitted CASI Meteorology and Climatology GSFC-E-DAA-TN65717 Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (ISSN 1558-8432) (e-ISSN 1558-8424); 57; 12; 2733-2748 2018 ftnasantrs 2019-12-21T23:47:37Z Blowing snow is a frequent and ubiquitous phenomenon over most over Antarctica. The transport and sublimation of blowing snow are important for the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and the latter is a major contributor to the hydrological cycle in high latitude regions. While much is known about blowing snow from surface observations, our knowledge of the thermodynamic structure of deep blowing snow layers is lacking. Here dropsonde measurements are used to investigate the temperature, moisture and wind structure of deep blowing snow layers over Antarctica. The temperature lapse rate within the blowing snow layer is found to be at times close to dry adiabatic and on average between dry and moist adiabatic. Initiation of blowing snow causes the surface temperature to increase to a degree proportional to the depth of the blowing snow layer. The relative humidity is generally largest near the surface (but less than 100%) and decreases with height reaching a minimum near the top of the layer. These findings are at odds with accepted theory which assumes blowing snow sublimation will cool and eventually saturate the layer. The observations support the conclusion that high levels of wind shear induced turbulence causes mixing and entrainment of warmer and drier air from above the blowing snow layer which suppresses humidity and produces the observed well-mixed temperature structure within the layer. The results may have important consequences for Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and the moisture budget of the atmosphere in high latitudes. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Antarctic The Antarctic |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
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ftnasantrs |
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topic |
Meteorology and Climatology |
spellingShingle |
Meteorology and Climatology Kayetha, Vinay K. Yang, Yuekui Nicolas, Julien P. Palm, Stephen P. Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
topic_facet |
Meteorology and Climatology |
description |
Blowing snow is a frequent and ubiquitous phenomenon over most over Antarctica. The transport and sublimation of blowing snow are important for the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and the latter is a major contributor to the hydrological cycle in high latitude regions. While much is known about blowing snow from surface observations, our knowledge of the thermodynamic structure of deep blowing snow layers is lacking. Here dropsonde measurements are used to investigate the temperature, moisture and wind structure of deep blowing snow layers over Antarctica. The temperature lapse rate within the blowing snow layer is found to be at times close to dry adiabatic and on average between dry and moist adiabatic. Initiation of blowing snow causes the surface temperature to increase to a degree proportional to the depth of the blowing snow layer. The relative humidity is generally largest near the surface (but less than 100%) and decreases with height reaching a minimum near the top of the layer. These findings are at odds with accepted theory which assumes blowing snow sublimation will cool and eventually saturate the layer. The observations support the conclusion that high levels of wind shear induced turbulence causes mixing and entrainment of warmer and drier air from above the blowing snow layer which suppresses humidity and produces the observed well-mixed temperature structure within the layer. The results may have important consequences for Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and the moisture budget of the atmosphere in high latitudes. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Kayetha, Vinay K. Yang, Yuekui Nicolas, Julien P. Palm, Stephen P. |
author_facet |
Kayetha, Vinay K. Yang, Yuekui Nicolas, Julien P. Palm, Stephen P. |
author_sort |
Kayetha, Vinay K. |
title |
Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
title_short |
Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
title_full |
Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
title_fullStr |
Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements |
title_sort |
insight into the thermodynamic structure of blowing snow layers in antarctica from dropsonde and calipso measurements |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190001620 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20190001620 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20190001620 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Use by or on behalf of the U.S. Government permitted |
_version_ |
1766247789841350656 |