The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them
<p>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...
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doaj-87876056101f44c9812d51abf2c8c1f52020-11-25T00:19:00ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe Cryosphere1994-04161994-04242019-04-01131267128110.5194/tc-13-1267-2019The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape themK. Kochanski0K. Kochanski1K. Kochanski2R. S. Anderson3R. S. Anderson4G. E. Tucker5G. E. Tucker6Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAInstitute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USACooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USADepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAInstitute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USADepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USACooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA<p>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.</p>https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1267/2019/tc-13-1267-2019.pdf |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
K. Kochanski K. Kochanski K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker G. E. Tucker |
spellingShingle |
K. Kochanski K. Kochanski K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker G. E. Tucker The evolution of snow bedforms in the Colorado Front Range and the processes that shape them The Cryosphere |
author_facet |
K. Kochanski K. Kochanski K. Kochanski R. S. Anderson R. S. Anderson G. E. Tucker 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 |
series |
The Cryosphere |
issn |
1994-0416 1994-0424 |
publishDate |
2019-04-01 |
description |
<p>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.</p> |
url |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1267/2019/tc-13-1267-2019.pdf |
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