Scaling and numerical model evaluation of snow-cover effects on the generation and modification of daytime mesoscale circulations

Abstract

These evaluations suggest that under ideal situations involved with uniform snow cover over large areas, particularly in late winter and early spring, a noticeable "snow breeze' is likely to develop. Additionally, suppression of the daytime thermally induced upslope flow is significant and may even result in a daytime drainage flow. The effects of bare ground patchiness in the snow cover on these circulations are also explored, both for flat terrain and slope-flow situations. A patchiness fraction greater than ~0.5 is found to result in a noticeably reduced snow-breeze circulation, while a patchiness fraction of only ~0.1 caused the simulated daytime drainage flow over slopes to be reversed. -from Authors