Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel
Snow cornices growing on the leeward side of mountain ridges are common in alpine and polar regions during snow seasons. These structures may crack and fall, leading to an increase in avalanche danger. Although cornice formation has been observed in wind tunnel tests and the field, knowledge gaps st...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2023
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00064896 2023-05-15T18:29:52+02:00 Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel Yu, Hongxiang Li, Guang Walter, Benjamin Lehning, Michael Zhang, Jie Huang, Ning 2023-02 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064896 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00063568/tc-17-639-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/639/2023/tc-17-639-2023.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064896 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00063568/tc-17-639-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/639/2023/tc-17-639-2023.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2023 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 2023-02-13T00:14:01Z Snow cornices growing on the leeward side of mountain ridges are common in alpine and polar regions during snow seasons. These structures may crack and fall, leading to an increase in avalanche danger. Although cornice formation has been observed in wind tunnel tests and the field, knowledge gaps still exist regarding the formation mechanism. This is particularly true with respect to wind conditions which favor cornice formation. To characterize the wind effects as the main factor for cornice growth, we carried out ring wind tunnel (RWT) experiments in a cold laboratory under various wind conditions. We quantitatively investigated the growth rate of the cornice in the horizontal and vertical direction as well as the airborne particle concentration. The results show that cornices only appear under a moderate wind speed range (1–2 times the threshold wind speed). The cornice growth rates in length and thickness are mainly determined by the combined effects of mass accumulation and erosion. The lower-limit wind speed for cornice growth is approximately equal to the threshold wind speed for snow transport. The upper limit of wind speed is when the erosion rate is higher than the deposition rate. The length growth rate of the cornices reaches a maximum for wind speeds approximately 40 % higher than the threshold wind speed. Moreover, a conceptual model for interpreting the cornice accretion mechanism is proposed based on the mass conservation and the results of the RWT experiments. The estimated suitable wind condition for cornice growth and formation are in good agreement with field observations in Gruvefjellet, Svalbard. Based on the physics of drifting snow, our results provide new insights into snow cornice formation and improve understanding of cornice processes that can influence avalanche activity. The experimental results and the conceptual model can be used in future snow cornice simulation and prediction work for cornice-induced avalanches. Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Gruvefjellet ENVELOPE(15.633,15.633,78.200,78.200) Svalbard The Cryosphere 17 2 639 651 |
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Open Polar |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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English |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Yu, Hongxiang Li, Guang Walter, Benjamin Lehning, Michael Zhang, Jie Huang, Ning Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Snow cornices growing on the leeward side of mountain ridges are common in alpine and polar regions during snow seasons. These structures may crack and fall, leading to an increase in avalanche danger. Although cornice formation has been observed in wind tunnel tests and the field, knowledge gaps still exist regarding the formation mechanism. This is particularly true with respect to wind conditions which favor cornice formation. To characterize the wind effects as the main factor for cornice growth, we carried out ring wind tunnel (RWT) experiments in a cold laboratory under various wind conditions. We quantitatively investigated the growth rate of the cornice in the horizontal and vertical direction as well as the airborne particle concentration. The results show that cornices only appear under a moderate wind speed range (1–2 times the threshold wind speed). The cornice growth rates in length and thickness are mainly determined by the combined effects of mass accumulation and erosion. The lower-limit wind speed for cornice growth is approximately equal to the threshold wind speed for snow transport. The upper limit of wind speed is when the erosion rate is higher than the deposition rate. The length growth rate of the cornices reaches a maximum for wind speeds approximately 40 % higher than the threshold wind speed. Moreover, a conceptual model for interpreting the cornice accretion mechanism is proposed based on the mass conservation and the results of the RWT experiments. The estimated suitable wind condition for cornice growth and formation are in good agreement with field observations in Gruvefjellet, Svalbard. Based on the physics of drifting snow, our results provide new insights into snow cornice formation and improve understanding of cornice processes that can influence avalanche activity. The experimental results and the conceptual model can be used in future snow cornice simulation and prediction work for cornice-induced avalanches. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yu, Hongxiang Li, Guang Walter, Benjamin Lehning, Michael Zhang, Jie Huang, Ning |
author_facet |
Yu, Hongxiang Li, Guang Walter, Benjamin Lehning, Michael Zhang, Jie Huang, Ning |
author_sort |
Yu, Hongxiang |
title |
Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
title_short |
Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
title_full |
Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
title_fullStr |
Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
title_sort |
wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064896 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00063568/tc-17-639-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/639/2023/tc-17-639-2023.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(15.633,15.633,78.200,78.200) |
geographic |
Gruvefjellet Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Gruvefjellet Svalbard |
genre |
Svalbard The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Svalbard The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064896 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00063568/tc-17-639-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/639/2023/tc-17-639-2023.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-639-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
639 |
op_container_end_page |
651 |
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1766213288140472320 |